Franz Winner, a sausage factory worker from the small German town of Kleinsburg, finds himself unemployed during the industrial crisis. While accidentally visiting a Social Democratic club, Winner injures a police officer in self-defense during a police raid. He is sentenced to ten years in prison. In prison, far from politics, Winner meets political prisoners and becomes a staunch revolutionary. German communists fight hard for Winner's release. His fellow prisoners go on hunger strike. Finally, Winner is granted amnesty. On the eve of his release, he dies from the effects of the torture he endured.