Helga Landau, a waitress in a small village tavern, returns one evening from Munich with the last bus of the day, the midnight one. She learned from her doctor that she was pregnant and wants to break the news to her young friend, Erich Holler, the son of the landlord where she works. A heated discussion arises between the two young people because Erich does not want to marry Helga and, on the contrary, tries to buy the girl's silence. The next morning Helga's lifeless body is fished out of a pond.