A film adaptation of Erich Kästner’s mix up comedy. Under a false name, the multimillionaire Schlüter enters his own competition award – promptly winning second prize.

Before going to the noble hotel up in the mountains, he acquires some old clothes and passes himself off as a poor man; for he wants to conduct a sociological study. To play it safe, however, he makes sure his own servant lodges in the same hotel – as a rich man.

Schlüter’s daughter Hilde wants to warn the hotel management, but, due to faulty telephone lines, cannot uncover his pseudonym. The hotel management therefore takes the winner of the first prize, the unemployed advertising man Hagedorn, for the millionaire, treating him accordingly, while Schlüter must sleep in a cold attic flat. When Hilde finds out about this from his servant, she likewise travels to the hotel. There she falls in love with Hagedorn, not knowing that he also has a “secret”.