Kitsch author Johannes J. Bachmann is disappointed with life. He no longer has any ideas for his books, which are hardly read by anyone anyway - with the exception of his cleaning lady, Mrs. Hauser, who is constantly nagging him to continue his stories. His wife is gone and he has no more money either. His godchild Leo is also at the end of his tether and can no longer look to the future with confidence. So the two decide to leave together. Of course, things turn out differently: a robbery takes place in the bank opposite and the strange gang of gangsters hide out in Bachmann's apartment of all places. But the two hostages, Johannes and Leo, don't behave at all as expected. They are simply not afraid and rebel against the hostage-takers. This completely confuses the robbers.