A faithful family has gathered around "Mundl": his wife Toni, who says little but always has the last word; his son Karli, who marries Irmi, a woman from "higher circles", and his parents-in-law, the Werners, who have some difficulty in getting accustomed to the coarse tones of the Sackbauer family. Then Mundl's daughter Hanni brings home a bespectacled intellectual, of all people, and altogether, everyday life in Vienna can be rather exciting.

It's 30 years later and the Sackbauers have estranged themselves from everyone; only mother "Toni" tries to re-establish the old happy family.