Over Waldbrunn, the romantic little village surrounded by majestic mountains, dark storm clouds brew together. Mayor Lechner is in the end with his wisdom. The railway line is shut down, the spa guests stay out, and the mountain of debt is long since higher than the highest peak. The news of the imminent incorporation gives the much-plagued, who now also has to worry about office and dignity, the rest. But need makes inventive, and so easy can be such a fancy rascal as mayor Lechner not get down. As a savior in distress, Oberregierungsregierungsrat Dr. Schröder and submitted to Lechner the plans for a huge project to rehabilitate the bankrupt community. When he is also the re-commissioning of the railway line in view, Lechner attacks. Dr. Schröder's promise to lead Waldbrunn into a bright future lets the otherwise distrusting Lechner blindly fall into a cleverly sophisticated trap. Even Bärbel, the pretty daughter of the mayor, falls to the worldly Dr.. Schröder in.

In order to stop the annual flooding, a dam is to be built in the mountain valley; a life-threatening undertaking for the inhabitants.

The daughter of a poor mountain farmer becomes pregnant by a young nobleman. Because he does not want to marry her, she commits suicide. Her brother Ferdl then wants to confront the count. A brawl ensues. Ferdl has to flee into the mountains, where he falls into a ravine and is presumed dead.