Dr. Danwitz (Karlheinz Böhm) and Dr. Hauser are assistant doctors at a hospital and they are not getting paid for their work, like it was usual in the Fifties of post-war Germany. While Dr. Danwitz' wife Edith (Marianne Koch) is working part- time as a model to bring home some money, Dr. Hauser has to drive a taxi at night for his living. When Edith' superior Mrs. Hambach (Heidemarie Hatheyer) finds out that she is pregnant, she doesn't want to have the child, because her husband is stepping out on her for so many times. After all Edith finds out that she is pregnant herself and she tells Mrs. Hambach that she can't go on working as a model, although there won't be any income for the Danwitzes anymore. Mrs. Hambach, very desperate, takes the chance and offers Dr. Danwitz and Dr. Hauser a very large amount of money for giving her an illegal abortion. But then something terrible happens.