Jutta Bornemann

Leopold and Franz are coach drivers and best friends. Their relationship gets strained when Franz decides to modernize by buying a taxi cab. Leopold, grumpy keeper of tradition, is not pleased.

Vienna, 1957: Head waiters Gustav (Paul Hörbiger) and Franz (Hans Moser) are working for the stinted Cafétier Panigl and are close friiends despite of their different characters. Franz is happily married and a good family father, Gustav, a relaxed charmer, is living a calm single life. Overnight both of them become jobless, because Panigl decided to sell his Café which was not successful anymore. Right in this moment, Franz' brother is sending 20.000 Dollar from USA. Money, he once peculated and now wants to pay back.. Gustav and Franz are buying half of the Café for each from the unexpected money. One half they develop as the modern Musicbox-Espresso «Pinguin», the other half as a traditional old style Vienna Café . Misunderstandings between guests and generations are inevitable and stretch the long term friendship of the two waiters.

The captain Paul Heider enjoys the reputation of a Danube Casanova.

In Franz Joseph I's Vienna, Captain Eichfeld publishes a witty satire on imperial Austrian army abuses, using the pseudonym "Spectator." It's popular, but Eichfeld dares not reveal his identity, as he wants the hand of conservative General von Trattenbach's daughter. His race rival blackmails both lovers.