Prussia, at the time of Frederick the Great. In his service is Major General Dietrich Edler von Roedern, a renowned fortress builder who pursues his work with fanatical zeal and seriousness. He is not in the mood for women or festivities. Although he is married to Elisabeth, a woman who has gradually become estranged from him due to his nature, this marriage only exists on paper. When Frederick II invites him to a soiree, Roedern meets the singer Maria Raven. The two feel connected from the very beginning, a fateful, invisible bond that seems to chain the two very different people together. For the first time, Dietrich von Roedern experiences something like passionate love.

Violanta lives with her parents in a poor cottage in the mountains in Austria. Her family is frowned upon by the local population since her father is a drunk and suspected by the villagers to have caused the death of one of the farmers. One day handsome Marianus Renner comes along. He sees Violanta and immediately starts courting her, They become involved in a relationship, until one day he suddenly does not come to her usual appointment.

Count Lerchenbach, the King's Adjutant, changes places with his master, King Ludwig I, in a romantic assignation with the beautiful Countess Rosenau.

Biography of the life of the circus performer Alfredo Codona.

Farmer Regina suffers greatly from her childlessness, because it means that the Hallwanger farm has no heir. A former suitor, whom she rejected for Martin Hallwanger's sake, also torments her with references to her childlessness.

"Gems" - Embedded in a frame story, the film shows excerpts from 18 entertainment films of the time, among others, "The Gypsy Baron", "The Three Codonas", "La Habanera", "Viennese Blood", "Sophienlund", and "Mask in Blue".

The story of the Renaissance-era Swiss physician, alchemist and astrologer Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known to the world as Paracelsus.

A dozen ladies expect marriage impostor Lanski to keep his promises. But he needs more money and decides to kill Mrs. von Droste who has changed her will in his favor. He covers his tracks but is seen by a neighbor who soon blackmails him.