As the head of a touring theatre troupe, Emmanuel Schikaneder (Max von Thun) doesn’t only have to come up with new creative ideas, but he is also responsible for the financial well being of his actors. The situation escalates on both fronts when he and his ensemble get held up in the summer of 1780 in a mountain village on the Austrian border as they wait for a performance permit from Salzburg. Schikaneder is running out of both – money and ideas. The impresario finds distraction from his plight in the fiery dispute between the mine-owner Pacolli (Erwin Steinhauer) and his workers and soon discovers the basis for his play. But, before long, not only the miners, but also Schikaneder’s ensemble take to the barricades and a hastily arranged open-air performance by the troupe leads to major disruption…