Adapted from the novel Die Döppelgänger by Theodor Storm, this black-and-white drama tells the tragic story of a war veteran who, in 1860, returns to his home in Schleswig Holstein after serving a term for robbery.
King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure.
A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
The children Sonja and Helmut Schmitt have lost their parents in a car accident. At first, their grandmother takes over the supervision and care of the two.