When the successful trumpeter Jonny has nearly all his concert earnings seized by tax collector Weber, he has had enough: he packs up his trumpet and travels to the Black Forest. Along the way, he encounters the musical vagabonds Tünnes and Nachtigall; he initially gives them a lift, but after his car is also confiscated by the police, he walks with them to the village of Todtmoos. There, he checks into a guesthouse and promptly falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter, Rosl.