Hans Giebenrath lives in a sleepy Black Forest village not in the habit of producing prodigies. When the local community discovers that he is beyond doubt a gifted child, they map his future out for him. Pressed toward the path of serious scholarship, Hans is successful in the academic system, but he finds its relentless uniformity crushing, and eventually breaks down in the middle of class. Diagnosed with a "nervous condition", he is sent home by the school -- never to return. Back in his simple village, he is finally able to recover when he experiences the delights of both nature and romance, from which his ceaseless studies had always kept him.