Once upon a time, there had been a tailor who send his three sons out into the world, so that they might find fortune and learn something proper. The oldest went to a carpenter and was gifted a small table at the end of his apprenticeship. It set itself with all kinds of delicacies when ordered to. When he visits a hostelry, however, he gets cheated from the table by the innkeeper. The second son became the apprentice to a miller and received a donkey as a parting gift which could spew gold. But he as well got cheated out of the wages of his apprenticeship by the criminal innkeeper. The third son received from his lathe worker master conveniently a club as a parting gift. Spontaneously, he helps his brothers to their right and the thievish innkeeper experiences a bad surprise.

The violin virtuoso Ferdinand Lohner is lonely and depressed after the death of his wife. But then he gets to know the much younger Irene and forgets all about his dead wife, marrying the young tart soon after. Irene moves into the house in the mountains, where Ferdinand, his son Heinz and his former mother-in-law Mrs. Leuthoff live. The bitter Mrs. Leuthoff makes life difficult for Irene, since she had no way of preventing Ferdinand from re-marrying after her daughter bit the dust. When Ferdinand conveniently goes out on tour once again, Irene has to sit at home with the bitter woman. One day, Irene’s cousin Gustl comes on a visit and Mrs. Leuthoff takes the opportunity to “accidentally” let slip to Ferdinand, that his current wife is a whore. As if living with your current mother-in-law isn’t enough to deal with!