For 999 years, the mountain spirit Rübezahl has lived deep underground in the Giant Mountains. No one has seen him since. But when he learns that people no longer believe in him and that greed and injustice reign supreme, the lord of the mountains descends into the valley to teach humans a lesson with his magical powers. He harnesses a servant who is working his old horse to death to his carriage and gives him the whip. The mountain spirit turns the gold of his rich and miserly cousin Klaus into stones. Having become hungry on his journey, Rübezahl stops at an inn in the guise of a carter. When the greedy innkeeper, out of sheer greed, nibbles half of the scrambled eggs he has ordered from his plate, Rübezahl demands the eggs he has already paid for back...

A tramp tries to trick the community into paying for the funeral of his fellow tramp who was found frozen to death.

A group of people from the wealthy middle class in engage in quasi intellectual quarrels and discussions trying to find some meaning in their comfortable and indolent life. Adaptation of the play by Maxim Gorky.

During the WW2, a Swiss mountain farmer, refuses to follow the government policy to increase self-sufficiency with produce. In his opinion, the steep mountain pastures are not suited for agriculture. Most of the villagers agree. However some begin to cultivate. Even after all his fellow farmers have given in and have started to plant cops, Tanner continues his opposition and ignores all letters and instructions. This leads to a series of reprimands, for instance, some of his hay is seized and his wife cannot buy at the local grocer's since the family won't comply with the government policy.

As a teenager, Carla Zachanassian had a child with a man named Serge Miller. When he refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. Now, many years later, she is a multimillionaire and returns to the town of her childhood, where she is welcomed with open arms. However, she has only one thing in mind: revenge—she wants Serge dead.