Dr. Otternschlag describes Berlin’s plushest, most expensive hotel as a place where “people come and people go.” “Nothing ever happens. The doctor is frequently intoxicated, so he overlooks the fact that Baron von Geigern is broke and attempting to steal eccentric dancer Grusinskaya’s pearls. He ends up stealing her heart. Preysing, a powerful German businessman, defeats Kringelein, one of his company’s humble bookkeepers, yet the terminally ill Kringelein ultimately holds all the cards. Meanwhile, the Baron seduces Preysing’s secretary, Flaemmchen, but she does not end up with either of them.