Ludwig Ganghofer

The young Count Ettingen leads a dissolute life in Munich with the demanding Baroness Prankha at his side. To finance his life, he has his uncle cut down the forests in his estate without caring about the consequences. When he catches his girlfriend having an affair, however, he retreats to the mountains. From the young alpine dairymaid Lore he learns about another side of life and wants to stop the overexploitation of the forest. But the baroness still wants his money.

The daughter of a poor mountain farmer becomes pregnant by a young nobleman. Because he does not want to marry her, she commits suicide. Her brother Ferdl then wants to confront the count. A brawl ensues. Ferdl has to flee into the mountains, where he falls into a ravine and is presumed dead.

A drama directed by Harald Reindl, based on the novel by Ludwig Ganghofer.

The count Egge is barely a visitor in his Alpine family castle Hubertus, being preoccupied with hunting. He's furious when his young adult sons miss an annual municipal hunting concession auction, being both in love with local commoner girls, deemed undesirable although their mother was an actress herself, as is their sister's lover, painter Forbeck. So comital heir Tassilo marries in secret, spare heir Willy courts 'discretely'. Then tragedy strikes, with further consequences for the whole comital family.

In the first light of day, one can see a mountain farm close to the forest. Nothing stirs far and wide. Suddenly, a figure comes out of the forest, running quickly to the farm. There's a quick grab and the hunting rifle is hidden in the gutter. There's a jump to the window sill: Obermeier Martl creeps like a cat into his room. No one's seen him. At the same time, the doorbell rings at Doctor Rauch's place. The hunter's mate Hias is standing outside. "Doctor, you have to bandage me: I've been shot!" By whom, he doesn't know.

Count Egge, a “special person” of noble birth, is rather conceited and has given his kids the old heave-ho, because they chose “unsuitable partners: Countess Litty picked the penniless painter Forbeck and Master Tassilo the rather common Anna. During a trip with his peasant lover, the second son of the Count, Willy, has a fatal accident. Kitty followers her painter-bum to Italy. One day, during a dramatic hunting party at the Eagle’s Nest, Count Egge goes blind. These strokes of bad luck as of late turn the self-centered noble into an accessible person and his heart softens. After coming to terms with his kids, he finds inner peace in the bosom of his ancestral seat, shrouded in secrets: Castle Hubertus.

Berchtesgaden in the 15th century: A power struggle between mountain peasants who have been raising milk cows on common land and a village bailiff trying to gain power driving them off the land. Both have a ducal documents that states the opposite.

Based on the 1889 play of the same name by Ludwig Ganghofer and Marco Brociner.