Hans, living in Vienna during the Great Depression, intends to drown himself in the river after losing his livelihood. While there he meets a girl named Anna after pulling her from the river.

Nacht der Verwandlung (A Night of Change) stars Gustav Froelich as a globe-circling aviator, a character clearly based on America's Wiley Post. While basking in his celebrity at a nighttime carnival, Froelich romances Rose Stradner, the unhappy wife of brutish Heinrich George. When George refuses to give Stradner her freedom, she takes it anyway, but her fling with Froelich is doomed to disappointment. Our hero learns the hard way that one can be in a teeming crowd, yet still be all alone. Leading lady Stradner later resettled in Hollywood, where she appeared in such films as The Last Gangster and Keys to the Kingdom.