Young Stanzi who is visiting Vienna helps a young corporal and musician to become famous for his marching song "Die Deutschmeister".
The rise of Albrecht von Wallenstein from minor Moravian nobleman to imperialist generalissimo in the Thirty Years-War, and his fall once the emperor begins to doubt his loyalty.
The sensitive Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf is suffering from his marriage, dictated by his father, Emperor Franz Joseph, and the strict court etiquette. He meets a kindred spirit in the very young Baroness Mary Vetsera.
