1928 Bruno Kretschmar, a successful art connoisseur, having a wife Annelise and a daughter, Irma and never cheating on his wife for nine years of marriage, is suddenly fascinated by a stranger whom she meets in cinema. She works there as a dropper.

Her name is Magda Petere. She was sixteen years. She is from a poor family. Father is old and sick. A mother is always ready to hit her or her brother Otto, who is three years older than Magda. Parents reproached Magda with parasites, and she escapes from them to the elderly lady of Lewandowski and begins to work as a model. Magda herself dreams of becoming an actress. Lewandowska is trying to bring her to the gentleman who called himself Mueller. Since they liked each other, Magda willingly runs away with him. A month later he leaves. Magda at first wanted to commit suicide, but then she decided. After Muller there were some Japanese, a fat old man "with a nose like a rotten pear." Magda is trying to find a place for the actress, but to no avail. Housewife arranges her to work in a movie theater. Here Krechmar meets her.

Kretschmar marvels at his duality: on the one hand, "indestructible tenderness" for his wife, on the other - the desire to meet with Magda. Magda finds out his phone number and calls him.

Kretschmar is horrified: his wife could pick up the phone. He forbids Magda to call and offers her to rent an apartment. Magda, of course, accepts the offer, but does not stop calling. One day, the telephone operator accidentally connects Max - the brother of Annelisa - with Kretschmar during his conversation with Magda. Max is stunned and immediately hangs up. He says nothing to Annelise.

Krechmar goes to see the apartment, which was rented by Magda. Magda confesses to him that she sent him a letter with a new address. This is a blow for Kretschmar: his wife always reads his letters, because they had no secrets from each other. He understands that it's over. The letter can no longer be returned. He stays with Magda.

Annelisa with her daughter moves to Max. Krechmar can not afford to let Magda into his apartment, so he settles with her. He writes a letter to his wife stating that he still loves her, asking for forgiveness. However, there is no question of his return. Magda attracts him, despite the vulgarity and gross shamelessness. When the brother of Magda appears and demands her money for silence about her past, Kretschmar expels him. Kretschmar is jealous of Magda. Magda is so afraid of losing everything that Kretschmar gave her that he does not dare to start any novels. Soon Magda begins to demand their move to Kretschmar’s old apartment. He succumbs to persuasion. They are moving. Kretschmar promises to get a divorce and marry Magda, but in fact the thought of divorce terrifies him. Magda persuades him to finance a film where she is promised a second female role. The film is vulgar, stupid, but Kretschmar gives money for it: if only Magda were happy.

At one of the dinners at Kretschmar, an American Horn appears, in which Magda recognizes the person because of whom she wanted to lose her life. Horn also recognizes Magda. Passion flares up again. However, everything is kept secret, since Krechmar Magda is not going to lose money, and Horn has only unpaid debts.

Robert Gorn is a cartoonist, he believes that the funniest thing in life is based on subtle cruelty.

Krechmar’s daughter Irma suddenly gets the flu. She can no longer recover. Kretschmar, whom Max went for, is the last day of his daughter’s life. She dies with him. While he says goodbye to his daughter, Magda cheats on him with Gorn.

The film starring Magda is finally over. On viewing Magda the whole audience laughs: she plays so disgustingly. At home, Magda throws a tantrum and once again demands that Kretschmar marry her. He promises, but divorce is unthinkable for him. Magda and Horn meet almost every day, having rented an apartment for these meetings.

Kretschmar and Magda go on a trip to Europe. Instead of a driver, Horn rides with them. In France, they stay in a hotel in neighboring rooms connected by a shared bathroom. Magda, pretending to bathe, gets the opportunity to visit Gorn.

So two weeks pass. Returning from one of the walks with a suburban train, they end up in different cars. The friend of Kretschmar, the writer Segelkranz, gets into the car to Magda and Gorn. Gathering material for a new novel, he records the conversation between Magda and Gorn and places it almost verbatim in his novel. A few days later, Segelkranz reads this novel to Kretschmar by the mountain stream, because he does not know that this couple is familiar to him.

Kretschmar rushes to the hotel: he wants to kill Magda. But she swears to him that Gorn is not interested in women. Kretschmar believes her, but demands to leave here immediately. He drives a car along a winding mountain road. Since his eyes are covered with tears, he can not cope with the management. They have an accident. Magda escapes with a slight startle, and Kretschmar goes blind.

Magda and Gorn are going to live together, using the blindness of Kretschmar, whose money they do not intend to lose. Magda rents a two-story cottage near Berlin. There they enter three together. Magda and Gorn meet with great caution, but then Gorn begins to behave openly, although he does not speak. Kretschmar constantly hears footsteps, coughing and other sounds. Magda hands him checks for huge sums, which he naturally signs without asking any questions. Magda, on the other hand, dreams of becoming Krechmar’s wife, since then half of his fortune would fall into her hands.

Meanwhile, Segelcrantz learns about the tragedy that happened with Kretschmar. He goes to Berlin and talks about everything to Max, to whom some rumors have already begun to reach. Segelcrantz fears that Kretschmar, now completely helpless, is completely in the hands of Horn and Magda. Max decides to visit Kretschmar.

He arrives on time: Horn just came up with a new mockery of Kretschmar. Max hits Gorn with a cane and is about to take Krechmar with him to Berlin. Kretschmar first begs him to say that there was no Horn, and then wants to see Magda. Max takes him away before she arrives.

Annelise happily arranges Kretschmar in Irma's former room. She still loves him. On the fourth day of his stay in Berlin, he was left alone at home. Suddenly, a guard from his house calls him and says that Magda has arrived to pick up things and he does not know whether to let her in. Krechmar miraculously manages to get to his apartment. He takes out a browning and wants to kill Magda, moving to the touch. In a short fight, Magda shoots Kretschmar and kills him.