Berlin in the 1920´s: In the beginning a young men jupms out of a window after another day of useless job-searching. He was Anni´s brother whose family becomes homeless short-time after his suicide. They move to a allotment called "Kuhle Wampe".
Anni as daughter and the only person who still has a job gets pregnant from her boyfriend Fritz. As he claims that he has to marry Anni because of the baby and has no longer a choice, Anni leaves him and moves to her friend Gerda. Fritz and Anni meet at a sport-festival and come together again.
The blowoff is the homecoming with the train. Anni, Fritz and a few workers quarrel with rich men and women about the world economic crisis. Gerda explains that only those people who do not agree with the world´s situation can change it.
The film end with singing the solidarity-song.