Mother Krausen lives with her adult children --- daughter Erna and son Paul --- in miserable conditions. Their apartment consists of two rooms and a kitchen. To pay the rent, Mother Krausen rents out the good room to a troublemaker, who earns his living as a petty crook. He lives there with his lover, whom he sends out into the street to prostitute herself, and her little daughter. Six persons live shoulder-to-shoulder in this small and narrow apartment, where the bathroom is on the ground floor. One washes oneself in the kitchen, where Erna and the child also sleep. Although Mother Krausen does all she can to make things right, she can't escape the crushing conditions which surround them. It doesn't help either, that a questionable lad casts lustful eyes on her daughter Erna. The misery's also incorporated in the form of her son, who, for a few pennies, spends his time collecting rags for recycling among the poor. One day, he steals money from his old mother to go drinking. Tempted by even more questionable "friends", it isn't long before the stolen money vanishes into the pockets of the tavern owner.

DVD-r- has German intertitles with switchable English and Spanish subtitles. Approx. 133 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!