The hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her.

During the time of the Peasants' Wars, the free knight Götz von Berlichingen gets into all kinds of private and political entanglements when he defends the Bishop of Bamberg. He is declared an enemy of the empire and ostracized as a robber. Insurgent peasants, of whom he becomes the leader, also betray him by attacking a town against the condition that no violence be used.