When the cosmopolitan pastor Linhart takes care of the pregnant, unmarried maid Angela, the entire village believes that he must be the father of the child—especially when he takes in the baby Andreas after the mother's death. Twenty years pass. Andreas has grown into a handsome young man. The old rumors have long since been forgotten. But when Andreas falls in love with the pretty Hanni and the old farmer Santner wants to leave him his farm, the envy and hatred of the villagers are reawakened.