In fairy-tale form the film addresses the contrast between poor and rich and threats to nature. The film is centered around the Spirit of Nature Rübezahl, ruler over rocks, woods and weather of the Giant Mountains. A baroness aims to steal Rübezahls’s gold and uses her beautiful maid Rosa, to whom Rübezahl has fallen in love to intrigue against the Spirit.
Rübezahl is a folklore mountain spirit and the protector of the Giant Mountains, a mountain range along the border between the historical lands of Bohemia and Silesia. He varies physically. He can take the appearance of a hunter, a junker, a wolf or a rover and roam around.
When he falls in love with Rosa, a maid-servant, he uses his talent and appears in different figures to get close to her. Thus he neglects his duty with the result that the sleeky baroness of Harrat uses the chance to implement her nasty plan: to become the ruler of the wood land and get hold of Rübezahl’s golden treasure…
