Winter AD 1373 in southern Germany. The day-taller Konrad lost his parents and gets into the service of the knight Ekkelin Gayling. In the coming feuds and robberies he has to realize, that his ideas of chivalry don't exist any longer. Konrad and his master lose everything in their struggle for life. When Ekkelin is finally betrayed and executed, Konrad searches revenge for his master.

The play tells the story of the chronic drunkard and landowner Puntila. When he is drunk, he is virtually free of himself; he develops immense strength in these phases and can really be a human being. Then he wants to fraternize with his chauffeur Matti, wants to give him a forest and a sawmill, and even wants to give him his daughter as his wife. Puntila could accomplish many, many more good deeds in his frenzy, but when he returns to a sober state, Puntila reveals himself to be the "black sheep" of his capitalist class and an insignificant person. His classmate reads him the riot act and shows him the limits of this species, which Puntila can never break. GDR television showed the play in a production by the Berliner Ensemble.