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Originally Der Unsterbliche Lump, this German operetta is based on a popular stage piece by Edmund Eyster. Set on the Austrian Tyrol, the story begins when a poverty-stricken village schoolmaster (Gustav Froelich) proposes marriage to the postmaster's daughter (Liane Haid). The girl's father would prefer that she marry a wealthy farmer, and he sends the schoolmaster packing. Our hero heads to Vienna, where he writes an operetta with the hope of striking it rich and proving to be a suitable bridegroom. In the meantime, however, the girl has been browbeaten into marrying the man of her father's choice. On the opening night of his operetta, the grief-stricken schoolmaster hears the first notes of the aria written in honor of his sweetheart and goes into a rage of hysteria. The production proves a great success, but its author doesn't know it; he has become a hobo and disappeared into the night. Presumed dead, the schoolmaster resurfaces years later when a statue in his honor is erected in his hometown, whereupon his old girlfriend leaves her bourgeois husband and goes "on the bum" with her true love.