Building contractor Rainer Patschold gets into financial turmoil by his own fault. Without thinking much about it, he has invested advances and loans for the modest 'Waldfrieden' housing estate in the large and promising 'Seydlitzdamm' project. Now, of all times, sales manager Wirsing plays the sick man, trying to show Patschold how irreplaceable he is for the company. To make matters worse, chief secretary Liebstöckel also drops out, collapsing under the double burden of work stress and an unhappy love affair. In addition to the business crisis, Patschold's private life is also under strain: his neglected wife is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and his demanding mistress Doris is closing in on him with bag and baggage. But the clever Patschold finally knows how to help himself with the help of his equally shrewd chauffeur Göhrke.