Franz Biberkopf is an unforgettable man: good-natured, soft, tender, but also hard, violent, and brutal. He wanders through the Berlin of the late 1920s without perspectives, goals, or work. All that keeps him going is the belief that human beings are good, no matter how rotten they are. The story begins when Franz Biberkopf leaves Tegel prison after serving four years for manslaughter. Drifting about Berlin, he decides to start a new life. He has a few people he can count on: his ex-girlfriend Eva, now working as a high-class prostitute, as well as the down-to-earth innkeeper and his wife. But no one finds work for him. Feeling superfluous, unwanted and unloved, he crawls away and drinks ...

Weeks later, he gets up, dusts himself off and plans to show the world that it hasnīt gotten the better of Franz Biberkopf. Then he meets Reinhold, a fascinating, mysterious character, a pimp and a criminal, maybe even a demon ... All Franz knows is that heīs magically drawn to Reinhold and is ready to trust him entirely, even if this means breaking the law again. Things go wrong; Franz loses both an arm and Reinholdīs friendship. But then he wins something much more important: the love of Mieze, sweet, gentle Mieze who walks the streets just for him! But Reinhold still lurks in the shadows. He wants revenge. He wants Mieze. He kills Mieze. Franz has lost the only thing that kept him alive. Now itīs lights out for Franz Biberkopf.