Plot Summary

Inge works in a department store as a saleswoman in the women's fashion department. She suffers from the cramped conditions in her parents' house, where they save money because her choleric father, a miner, dreams of owning his own house in the country. She despises life in the Ruhr area where the air is always sooty black and she is dissatisfied in her relationship with the miner Wolfgang. A sudden change occurs when her boss organizes a fashion show in the department store. He personally selects a group of female employees and sales assistants to appear as mannequins. Inge is praised for her figure and appearance and is even allowed to present the wedding dress at the end of the fashion show. Wolfgang wants to surprise her after the fashion show: he has also bought a motorcycle for her (on credit). Inge is short-tempered, however, as she and the other mannequins have been invited to a party at his house after the fashion show by the well-off Günther...