The engineer Wolff Benningsen (Volker von Collande), a self-assured and über-obnoxious jingo jerk meets the young art student Vika von Demnitz (Leny Marenbach) while climbing in the Alps. One get's the idea that he would like to knock her over the head with a club and drag her to his cave but since this is out of fashion he decides to stalk her and annoy her heavy-handedly into a full submission. Understandingly, she instantly dislikes the lad and tries to shake him off. She succeeds a few times but then starts to suffer from some kind of Stockholm syndrome and falls for him. But that's not enough for him, being an infantile egoist he wants to tame the "wild bird" fully and break every last bit of her own will. It's all hard to believe if you haven't seen it yourself.
Already a famous painter, Rembrandt van Rijn is commissioned to paint the Amsterdam Archers' Guild. But upon completion of the picture, the men of the guild feel duped, because they don't consider themselves flatteringly depicted in the painting. They therefore decline to pay for the work. During this dispute, the painter finds out his wife is close to death. He finds himself terribly lonely after her passing and suffers from depression until he decides once more to marry.
In a small town in northern Germany at the turn of the century: The wealthy mayor's daughter Felizitas marries the much older owner of a trading house because her childhood friend and lover, an impoverished shipowner's son who has broken off his painting studies, withdraws from her. Although she soon realizes that her decision to marry is a mistake, she initially refuses to follow the voice of her heart until a scandal leads to the lovers' eventual happiness. A conventional melodrama, at least well acted.
