1802: The adventurous life story of Hans Bückler, known as “Schinderhannes”, who fights against the French occupying forces and large landowners who exploit poor farmers in the Hunsrück region during the Napoleonic Wars.

Old captain Barkhahn keeps on going bankrupt with all his business endeavors. He’s made for the sea and not for the land. His newest idea is a family-run bed and breakfast with “Familienanschluß," and so Captain Bräuer moves in and quickly shows interest in Barkhahn's daughter Käthe, whom he met and bugged earlier already. Meanwhile, the bailiff is on Barkhahn's back, and the next catastrophe is on the rise.