The title of the film, set in Luxembourg in 1942, during the Nazi occupation, amalgamates the words Schacko (helmet) and chapeau claque (opera hat). The village, in which it is set, has not yet been feeling the effects of the war at this point.

In the 1770s, Swiss farmer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi established a school for poor orphaned children in the Aargau. Up to total exhaustion he sacrificed himself for his pedagogical theories. Five years later, the project of the idealistic educator failed after bloody attacks of the French. In retrospect, the disappointed Pestalozzi experiences the last few months with "his" children.

Theophil Läppli is a swiss patriot, who after a trip to Greece tries to recover the democratic roots of Switzerland. With much enthusiasm and idealism he's discovering, that corruption and greed are wide spread in his beloved country. This is the second movie about Theophil Läppli after HD-Soldat Läppli (1959).