Poorly paid jobs, divorces, but also the ups and downs of an artist's life or a carefree penchant for the beautiful things in life – the reasons for old-age poverty are as diverse as women's biographies. To cope with chronic money shortages, only creativity and solidarity can help. Erika, the retired primary school teacher, Lilli, the unsuccessful musician, Anna, the widowed spendthrift, and Ursula, a nurse with a fatal attraction to exotic love affairs, invent "Grandma's Courses" and organize apartment flea markets, bake cakes, and tend to Erika's allotment garden. However, when all of this is not enough, they decide to try their luck with illegal methods.