A biographical film of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and how he and his policies - including aggressive war - helped to unite Germany.

Silo is a bum; but he's a bum whose beloved by all and one day, he is found wounded on the banks of the Theiss. Fishermen take him back to the village and Maria, Alexander Renka's young wife, cares for him until he gets better. Silo's wound heals, but he decides to stick with the fishermen to find out who the intended target for the stabbing knife really was (for who would stab a beloved bum?). Maria's husband is acting really strange. He is away from home often and can be found very often near the hut of the gypsy Panna, who can allegedly bewitch any man she pleases. Maria is convinced from her womanly intuition -- never mind asking -- that her husband is doing the dirty with the gypsy and decides to abandon him and the town she lives in. With her brother, she returns to her homeland, the steppe. That same morning, Alexander Renka is found dead on the riverbank and he's been stabbed, too.