A young officer suffers under his ambitious wife, who is determined to make a captain out of him. Meanwhile, ship's cook Andresen becomes a father and, for the sake of his wife, becomes an innkeeper ashore, but he is still driven by wanderlust.

Gustav Andresen, a former ship's cook, initially struggles as a restaurant owner, but eventually puts down roots near the Brunsbüttel canal lock. The young sailor's widow Yvonne Bröhan has successfully completed radio school in Hamburg and embarks on her first voyage as a radio operator. Chally Tonzel, who has replaced Gustav as the ship's cook, is faced with the difficult choice of which of three...