In Alt-Köstendorf in the Salzburg region, the dean, known as Seelenbräu, and the brewer Hochleithner, known in the village as Leibesbräu, are fighting for supremacy. As their nicknames suggest, Leibesbräu is primarily concerned with the physical well-being of the villagers, while Seelenbräu cares deeply about the faith of his congregation. This leads to repeated clashes between the two men, who could perhaps be described as stubborn. When Hochleitner's niece Clementine leaves the convent and wants to stay at home, a new dispute flares up between Seelenbräu and Leibesbräu.

Since Benno Geyer fails to pass his Abitur due to his panicky exam anxiety, Dr. Fritz Geyer enrolls in high school under his brother's name. As a model student, he has no trouble getting good grades, but he quickly becomes unpopular among the students. From then on, he tries to impress with the craziest pranks.

Goalkeeper Josef Bloch is sent off after committing a foul during an away game. This causes him to lose his bearings, and he wanders aimlessly through the city streets and spends the night with the box-office attendant of a movie theatre.

On New Year's Eve 1900, Paul Holzgruber started a new praxis as a radiologist. The young Maximiliane Frey is his assistant and they have worked side by side for years helping people. Holzgruber repeatedly points out the dangers of radiation to Maximiliane, but is silent about the ulcers on his hand and the severe pain they have caused. Maximiliane has gotten to know the widower Axel von Bonin and has fallen in love with him. But then she is diagnosed with incurable cancer. To spare Axel the inevitable grief over her impending death, she leaves him and dedicates what is left her life to medicine.

The captain Paul Heider enjoys the reputation of a Danube Casanova.

Marika is a cheerful girl who lives on the Danube aboard an old barge she inherited from her father. She works as a waitress in her aunt's inn, entertaining the guests with singing and dancing. Her greatest dream is to save enough money to repair the old barge and sail down the Danube. One day, she meets three young artists, Georg, Oskar, and Christoph, who all fall in love with her. Together, they put on an open-air revue and raise the necessary money. And with Georg, Marika is lucky in love.

A melodrama about a self-sacrificing mother who, after her husband is struck by lightning, has to raise her three sons and one daughter alone. She buys a small laundry in Vienna and does everything she can to give her children a good life. When one of her employees becomes pregnant by one of her sons, she demands that the two marry. Another son has to leave home after an argument. The third son goes blind. For him, the mother makes her greatest sacrifice: she donates her cornea. Finally, she reconciles with the son who left home and, as a grandmother, can look back on a difficult but fulfilling life.

Peter, a writer, lives the life of a carefree bachelor, but soon gets to know a charming girl during a trip, falls in love with her, and marries her right away. Only after he returns to his elegant apartment in Vienna, does he start to wonder, whether Marianne will fit in amidst his circle of spoiled acquaintances. His well-meant advice on how she should behave makes Marianne so insecure, that she ends up acting quite clumsy and scares off his friends. Peter is angry and Marianne is so upset, that she wants to return back to her parents. On the way there, she has an experience, which shows her her mistake. She turns around and now strives to become an elegant lady of the world.