There is something bizarre going on at the Hartcourt Academy for boys and girls. All the students are vanishing left and right under mysterious circumstances and no one except the new girl, Susan Galligan knows what has become of them because she is having visions that students are the victims of violent murders!
The weekly brass band rehearsal is an enjoyable, light-hearted occasion. Then Mathew, the conductor, introduces James, a newcomer to the village, who is an enthusiastic bandsman from the north, where they do these things properly.
This film deals with the contrasts of the Wilhelminian era in Berlin: the splendor of the monarchy, the economic and intellectual vitality of the up-and-coming imperial capital on the one hand, and the misery of the proletarians in the tenements on the other.