The rich and fun-loving brewery owner Xaver Bogenrieder has died. After the funeral, the mourners come to the pub for the funeral feast. The first trouble is already inevitable: It's all about the succession to the Unterbräu and which of the dignitaries will court the beautiful widow. The master brewer, who has long been a silent admirer of the widow, doesn't like this at all. Then the shepherd gives him an idea. The Unterbräu simply has to go around as a ghost, then the false admirers will stay away. Unfortunately, the gravedigger has the same idea, without the one knowing about the other.

Baron Siebenzell employs the young forest ranger Thomas Sebald, to stop the bold poachers he's plagued with in his beautiful mountain forests. Most of the men in the village reject and ridicule Thomas because of his job. Nevertheless he falls in love with the mayor's daughter Maria - not knowing, that her father is the poacher's leader.