On the eve of the German Peasants' War, the family of the young Christoph falls victim to an act of revenge by the knight Scharfenstein. The peasant leader Joß takes Christoph in. He learns to read, write and use a weapon. When Hieronymus is on his way to fetch a flag to signal an uprising, Christoph discovers treachery. To warn Jerome, he rides after him. But he can no longer save him from arrest and fetches the flag himself. On the way back, he is arrested with it. In prison, he meets Jerome a...