Hans Schnier leaves home to escape the lies and hypocrisy of his family and their powerful friends. Having become a clown, he travels from town to town accompanied by Marie, his one and only love. After six difficult years together, she leaves him to marry a powerful official in the German Catholic church. Hans cannot accept Marie’s departure and ends up begging for money on the steps of the railway station in Bonn, waiting for her to return from her honeymoon.