Dot and Anton

Dot - Luise Pogge in fact, but everyone calls her Dot - one day finds herself standing inside one of the ten rooms of her parents' sprawling flat, trying to sell matches to the wallpaper. What her father, the wealthy walking stick factory director Pogge, dismisses as a childish play has an utterly different reason. Unnoticed by her busy parents, Dot regularly begs on the nightly streets of Berlin with her nanny Miss Andacht, as Andacht is in need of money to give to her fiancé Robert, who is taking advantage of her. On one of these occasions Dot meets Anton, who is also begging, but for existential reasons. Living alone with his poor and sick mother, he takes on the housework and earns their living. By night, he sells shoelaces on the Weidendammer Bridge; by day, he must face the anger of his teachers whenever he turns up to class overtired. Dot and Anton quickly grow close friends and offer each other comfort and support in faceing the challenges of their very different lives. Dot loudly asserts herself against the resentment of Anton's teacher, and once Anton witnesses Robert planning a burglary at the Pogges' flat, it is up to him to prove his courage and loyalty.