The plot follows the misadventures of a working-class gay man who wins the lottery, then falls in love with the elegant son of an industrialist.

His lover tries to mold him into a gilt-edged mirror of upper-class values, and ultimately swindles the easily flattered "Fox" out of his fortune.

[2] Franz Bieberkopf[a] is a sweet and unsophisticated working-class gay man who works in a carnival as "Fox, the Talking Head".

After losing his remaining money, Fox meets an older man, Max, a sophisticated antique art dealer.

Fox swindles ten marks from an overweight gay florist and buys a lottery ticket.

In Morocco, they pick up a local male prostitute (El Hedi ben Salem), but he is not let into the hotel because he is a Moroccan.

Fox suggests giving his flat to Eugen, so the bank lets him take a loan to pay them.

Later in the gay bar, Fox sees the American soldiers and they ask him how much he pays; he starts sobbing as the florist tries to console him.

At the first showing in France, on 27 January 1978 at the Festival du film homosexuel, twenty far-right militants interrupted the screening.