Henry Vahl

Retired tax official Willi Winzig spends his retirement happily and contentedly in his home. However, this changes when his sister Heidelinde, her daughter and his father want to move in with him, and as Willi is a good-natured man, he takes them in, but because they have no money and his pension is not enough for all four of them, he has to take on a new job. He gets a job as a salesman for household appliances, but his good nature gets in the way again.

Henriette Johanne Marie Müller, known as Zitronenjette, was a Hamburg original. At the end of the 19th century, she traveled through the streets and bars of Hamburg's harbour and Neustadt districts with a basket full of lemons to make a living selling the fruit. Lemon, lemon, that's how she advertised her wares and was known not only for her unusual appearance, but also for her drinking strength.

Meta Boldt misses nothing in the house of master butcher Tramsen. She is firmly convinced that unsustainable conditions would prevail and order would be lost if she did not keep the landlord constantly informed of all the news. Unfortunately, Meta Boldt can't find out everything through glimpses through the keyhole and overheard conversations. Slowly but surely, her half-truths get her into trouble with everyone in the house, especially as she can't keep her mouth shut...

A rich farmer learns that the grandfather of a poor farmer owns two houses. He therefore tries to buy his grandfather from the poor farmer. However, the grandfather is even more cunning than the inheritance hunter, and so everything ends well for the poor farmer, whose son then gets the rich farmer's daughter.

Widow Lührs only receives a meagre pension and is therefore reliant on supplementary income, so she plays commercial cards without permission! One day, farmer Henck from Schandeloh appears at her house, who wants to scare his bossy wife with the help of the cards. Wilhelmine Lührs hesitates, but ham, sausage and money finally persuade her to change her mind. She lays out the cards for Mrs. Henck just as her husband had wished. But the fraud is discovered and Mrs. Lührs has to appear before the public prosecutor. But even in court, the ludicrous Wilhelmine manages to use her wisdom to cleverly get out of the affair.

Widow Brasse goes to great lengths to support her children and her elderly grandfather. Poverty and irritation are a constant state of affairs in the family, as there is not enough money to go around, even though Johanna Brasse washes clothes for strangers day after day. But as life goes, one day Grandpa Philipp is hit by a car and the widow senses a good deal. Although Grandpa is not injured, he is put to bed and given a proper bandage. All the preparations are made to extract a good deal of compensation from the remorseful driver. But everything turns out quite differently.