The circus clown Joe Higgins is scouted by a world famous artist agent, who promises him fame and fortune. Joe takes the offer on one condition: His fiancèe Daisy and her parents are coming with him. Soon, Joe finds himself performing on the biggest stages in the city, enthralling his audience night after night. But the glamorous life in the big city is no fairy tale after all.
Foreman West lives in a small mining town with his daughters Edith and Dina. When entrepreneur and mine owner Frank Stoll comes to town to inspect the work, he falls in love with Dina. Against her father's will, she elopes with the unscrupulous Stoll. News of a meteor approaching the earth causes panic and Stoll exploits the situation to make a killing on the stock market; Collaborating with the press to quell the news of the meteor eases public tensions and guarantees him a fortune. He plans to survive in a secret underground tunnel, with Dina and his wealthy pals in tow. But things don't go as planned.
Overwhelmed by personal and professional problems, biologist Friedrich von Kammacher decides to travel abroad in order to regain the joy of living. During his adventurous journey he will meet two very different women, one of whom will be the key to his fate.
