The daydreaming tailor Wenzel is fired from his job, because the fancy frock he was supposed to cut for the mayor, he instead made for himself. He is allowed, however, to take the frock, which he appropriated for himself and he puts it on as he leaves the shop. A puppeteer picks him up in his coach and addresses Wenzel as "Count". So is he received in Goldach, where people think he is Count Stroganoff, the ambassador to the Czar of Russia.

Singing sailor Hannes, who now entertains the crowd at St. Pauli's Hippodrome after years at sea, promises his dying brother that he will take care of his ex-girlfriend Gisa. Taking Gisa to Hamburg to live with him, Hannes quickly falls in love with her, but soon has to face Gisa's affection for another man, Willem.