May 1945. A burned-out hotel lobby. A man stumbles his way through rubble and debris and finds the cut-off head of the Kaiser Wilhelm bust. The man, of whom Soviet soldiers think he might be looting, is Paul Rippert who had belonged to the Adlon's staff since its opening in 1907.
In episodes, a narrator recalls the history of Berlin's noble hotel. Parallel to aristocratic festivities, odd crimes, two world wars and many political turmoils that also influenced life at the Adlon, Paul Hippert's career from bell-boy to hotel director, his dream of ultimate fortune and his great love to French lady Ninette are described.