Having lost his heavyweight championship match, boxer Ernie Driscoll now drives a taxi for a living and earns the scorn of his nagging wife, Pauline, who blames him for her lack of social status. Involved with jewel thief Victor Rawlins, Pauline is murdered by him when she impedes his ability to fence the jewels. Blamed for his wife's murder, Ernie must track down Rawlins before he leaves the country.

In early 20th century Vienna, Stefan Brand is in the process of fleeing on the eve of a duel he wants no part of. However, before he can do so, he receives an anonymous letter from an unknown woman. Stefan is deeply moved by what he reads and starts to realize that the letter's author is Lisa Berndl, a young woman he's known but disregarded for most of his life.

An acrobatically inclined free spirit, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée's aristocratic family, setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister. With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, the film is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection...