The story takes place in a village high up in the mountains of Austria and close to the border, crossing which was the last hope for many for seven years.

The sensitive Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf is suffering from his marriage, dictated by his father, Emperor Franz Joseph, and the strict court etiquette. He meets a kindred spirit in the very young Baroness Mary Vetsera.

Albin Skoda embodies a frantic Adolf Hitler in his last days, scrambling to keep the Third Reich alive as morale within the bunker wanes and Berlin is encircled by enemy troops. Based on Michael A. Musmanno's book Ten Days to Die, Oscar Werner costars as fictional Nazi Hauptmann Wüst, a disillusioned middleman.

With a certain degree of audacity, Girardi from Graz manages to gain a foothold at the Strampfertheater, a well-attended traditional theater in Vienna. However, his engagement as a new comedian leads to fierce competition with the theater's established star, Felix Schweighofer. Girardi's plans to entertain the audience at a high level are ultimately crowned with success, even though he is long underrated. He is hired by the Theater an der Wien, where, during rehearsals for a new operetta, he even persuades the strict Johann Strauss to compose an additional waltz for him. Girardi distills his special brand of comedy from events beyond the stage, from his own experiences. Confidently, the actor rises to become a favorite with the audience, against all odds. All of Vienna is enthusiastic about Girardi, singing his songs and applauding his shows.

Despite their social differences Luise, called Pünktchen, a girl from rich parentage befriends Anton, a boy who has to earn his own money in order to afford life for his sick mother and himself. Together they undergo different adventures, even preventing a theft in Pünktchens home

Franz Xaver Silvester Pomeisl travels thru the decades looking for the good old times.

A dancing girl succeeds in getting Napoleon, in 1808, to pardon her lover, a German artist who has drawn an unflattering caricature of the French emperor during his Erfurt conference with the Czar and several local princes.