Because the young hunter Michael has carelessly fallen for the head forester's daughter, he incurs the wrath of his colleague Bertl. This not only earns him a beating, but also a charge for a crime he did not commit. Fortunately, he manages to flee to Africa, where he finds shelter with a friend as a big game hunter. But his heart soon pulls him back home.

When the cosmopolitan pastor Linhart takes care of the pregnant, unmarried maid Angela, the entire village believes that he must be the father of the child—especially when he takes in the baby Andreas after the mother's death. Twenty years pass. Andreas has grown into a handsome young man. The old rumors have long since been forgotten. But when Andreas falls in love with the pretty Hanni and the old farmer Santner wants to leave him his farm, the envy and hatred of the villagers are reawakened.