A wealthy man murders his wife, then marries a young woman who becomes suspicious of him.

A Tyrolean rifle regiment adopt a young baby girl they have rescued and she becomes the "Daughter of the Regiment". In 1811, as a full-grown woman she falls in love with one of the new recruits while the regiment battles French forces during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Habsburg Empire between the Reformation and the approaching Thirty Years' War: upheaval, awakening and change, which culminate in the political and human catastrophe of a cruel slaughter.