The protagonist, Franz Biberkopf, a simple and rude criminal, is released from prison and drawn into the underworld. He falls under the influence of Reinhold, who murders the prostitute Mieze, a stabilizing force in Franz's life. After mental and physical crisis, Franz perhaps understands better the forces inside and outside of himself. The action is confined to a small area centered on Alexanderplatz. Metropolitan environment is presented in the manuscript of the novel by using news items and advertisements from newspapers, soldiers' songs, weather forecasts, election speeches, sex manuals, market reports etc.
Sound effects appear from time to time.
He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1941 and later acknowledged the influence of Kierkegaard and Spinoza, whom he considered his great philosophical and moral master. In 1945 he returned to Europe as a member of the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He served in Baden-Baden, Germany, as an education officer and published the magazine Das goldene Tor from 1946 to 1951. In 1949 he was a cofounder and vice-president of the literary section of Academy for Science and Literature in Mainz. In 1956 he entered sanatorium at Freiburg in Breisgau.