Deep in the forest lives the bitter Dr. Wislizenus, whose childhood sweetheart Maria committed suicide ten years ago. The visit of a childhood friend, he who wrote a poem about Mary, triggers a tragedy.

John, a young man raised by his aunt, is in love with Anna, a servant girl who is going to have his baby. He is willing to marry her but his stern aunt wants him to marry a rich girl. To separate the lovers, she arranges for her nephew to be enrolled at a university in a distant town. She then has Anna sent away to live with Torgus the coffin maker and his mother where she will be secluded until the birth of the child. Torgus, a clumsy golem-esque sort of fellow, is immediately charmed by the beautiful girl and takes pity on her. Meanwhile, Anna anxiously awaits John's return.

An ill-fated love affair between a brothel waitress and a doctor's son.

Christel, the beautiful, blonde daughter of the old master blacksmith Wangen, and the young, handsome student Fritz von Hohenstein have fallen in love. The two spend a happy, carefree time on the banks of the Rhine. This does not fit in at all with the concept of the court clerk Ensser, as the devious officer himself has his eye on the attractive blonde. When he asks for her hand in marriage, Christel immediately rejects him.