In the early Fifties Pauline Karka (Maria Schell) comes to Berlin. She is pregnant and totally penniless. She meets the laundry owner Anna John (Heidemarie Hatheyer) who always yearned to become a mother but hasn't been able to. Paulines child is born and the two women agree that Anna John will keep the newborn as her own baby. As Pauline is going to move to West Germany, she wants to see her child once again for the last time but Anna John refuses. Pauline panics and kidnaps by mistake the terminally ill kid of the neighbor woman. Meanwhile Anna John instructs her brother Bruno (Curd Jürgens) to get rid of Pauline but Bruno stumbles and kills himself with his own knife before he could find Pauline.