Benedikt Stirner returns, after ten years at sea, to his alpine home village. His mother Maria asked him because father max is on his deathbed, but the old grump still won't even see the firstborn he blames for the fatal mountaineering accident of kid brother Julius. Middle brother Anton 'Toni' Stirner fears, not without ground, his fiancée Johanna Heller may be tempted to return to Benedikt. Anton confesses to only the curate the truth about Julius's death.