At a conference in Verona, the dutiful German family man falls under the spell of the Italian Elsa. As soon as he falls for her, she disappears without a trace. Leo wife Hannah remorsefully confesses the affair. She forgives him. Then suddenly Elsa appears.
The disabled ex-soldier Andreas Pum lost a leg for emperor and father land. After leaving the army he receives a license and a drehorgel. One day he gets into a controversy with a welldressed gentleman, disturbs the public order, and hits a policeman. Andreas Pum goes to jail, loses his license and becomes toilet guard in the Cafe Halali after his release. Only at the moment of death he recognizes that he was always too decent and too obedient.
Karl has a childlike innocence and naive purity. In spite of making false friends and enemies, he retains his decency in New York which remains a foreign city for him.
