The bohemian filmmaker and composer Manfred is plagued by an event in the past. At the age of sixteen, his father died. When Manfred was coming from Karlsruhe with his father's grave urn, to spread ashes over the ocean, the tram collided.

Lisa is a little girl looked after by Dr. Flower, since he believes that the Mona Lisa's mother, who runs a laundry, is not a good and orderly mother.

The neurotic director Max Karlsson tries to do a film of Goethe's "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers". He finds all actors for his melodrama - except Lotte, the wonderful girl who is an object of two mens love. He auditions a number of girls. But when he finds the right one nothing goes the way he had figured.