Germany 1931 in the time of the world economic crisis. The bank of the small town of Groditzkirchen, like many banking companies, is about to go bankrupt. After all the only thing the safe is used for is to hold lunch! As the entrepreneur Brandt also gets into the crisis by local oil speculation, he puts his hopes on a supposedly rich uncle from America, who has announced his arrival. 

SPOILERS: When the uncle, Thomas Hoffmann, turns out to be completely impoverished, the simple bank employee Heinz Schmidt forces him to play the millionaire. Schmidt stages an oil boom, which brings prosperity to nearly everyone in the city. As the scam flies, Schmidt convinces the dignitaries of the city that it is best for all to treat Hoffmann as a millionaire and dedicate a statue to him as planned. (Hoffmann's comment: "I have always been a decent person, and yet I should now get a monument. ") For Schmidt, the fraud is mainly for the conquest of the pretty Käthe Brandt (a very young and beautiful Hedy Lamar). An advanced engagement of convince is followed by an actual marriage and, most recently, the rapprochement of the two. An excellent early romantic comedy.