In 1833, the penalty for non-compliance is death! Andreas insists on his right as a free man and fights alone against the entire royal army.

Early one summer morning a young man, with a secret stashed away in a duffel bag, emerges from the forest. In a nearby village he asks around for work, but the farmers, suspicious to the point of hostility, are not very forthcoming. Only when Lucy, the mayor’s unruly daughter, takes a liking to him, does the village change its attitude: he is promptly offered a job as a farmhand and a caravan to live in. As time passes and he is gradually integrated into the community, it emerges that he’s not the only one with a past to hide. Something sinister is lurking under the immaculate surface of this picturesque little world - and it is slowly drawing him in.

Curt serenades his wife Charlott from the garden without her recognizing him. When she later doesn't refer to the incident he assumes that she is falling for the 'unknown' suitor and deliberately puts a notorious womanizer on her trail.

Against her father’s wishes, the ringmaster Wallner, Helga forms a connection with the wild animal trainer Peter. After he is almost killed during an appearance, he promises his mistress, that he’ll never work with wild animals again. From that point on, he works with Helga on safe horse numbers. When Helga finds out from Peter’s friend Otto, that Peter would rather work with wild animals again, she doesn’t want to stand in the way of her beloved’s dreams. Helga disappears and leaves Otto enough money to buy Peter a new group of lions. For a long time, Peter and Helga do not see one another, though neither can forget the other. When Helga hears from Otto one day, that Peter is practicing a very dangerous number involving wild animals, during which Otto is to play the “lead”, Helga makes a fatal decision, so she might see Peter again.