Leni lives with her mother, who has a smallholding at the foot of the hill on which the wealthy Sternsteinhof is situated. She longs to give up her wretched existence and to move in to the Sternsteinhof. She sees Toni, the son of the farmer who owns the Sternsteinhof when in a tavern with her sickly fiancé Muckerl. She subsequently meets him on a regular basis. Toni even gives her a promise to marry her in writing. However, the written promise is not accepted by his father. When Leni confesses to the father that she is expecting a child by Toni, the farmer owning the Sternsteinhof farm arranges for Toni to be called up by the army.

Two years after the child is born and Leni’s marriage to Muckerl, Toni returns from the army. He marries Sali, in line with the wishes of his father, but continues to see Leni. When Muckeln is laid up in bed with pneumonia, Leni consciously aids and abets the deterioration of his condition – Muckerl dies. Shortly afterwarts Sali dies in childbirth. Leni and Toni marry. Leni has finally become the owner’s wife of the Sternsteinhof farm. But shortly afterwards – 1914 – Toni is called up to go to war. He doesn’t return.