A little boy is on a search for the perfect gift for his mother, navigating the streets of 1890s Vienna, meeting new people, and continuing to trade one gift for another.

A novel in four volumes on the dying culture of pre-World War I Vienna. The man without qualities of the title is Ulrich, a skeptical type who views with an amused eye all attempts by the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to instill in their subjects the nationalistic fervor of neighboring Germany. The author died in 1942.