Winter. In a forest, along the banks of the Silver Lake, two youths are digging a grave. They are joined by two comrades and Severin. In a mock funeral the youths prepare to bury hunger in effigy and sing the Hunger Song. Severin and the four comrades go to a grocery shop where two shop girls are extolling the prerogatives of sales in the free market. Severin and his comrades ransack the store for food - including a pineapple - and flee. They are fired upon by the country policeman Olim, and Severin is severely wounded and taken to a prison hospital. At the police station, Olim writes his official report. In an extended melodrama, Olim reflects on the pressing need that prompted the theft and considers his responsibility in assuaging the needs of at least one individual in a troubled and disordered society. He falsifies the report, which allows for the release of Severin. In the midst of the melodrama, a Lottery Agent informs Olim that he has won the jackpot. With the proceeds, Olim purchases a castle and, as a secret benefactor, plans to devote himself to Severin's recuperation. He visits the latter, who is in a delirious state in the prison hospital.
Fennimore, the niece of Frau von Luber, who serves as Olim's châtelaine, arrives at the castle at the behest of het aunt. Frau von Luber sets Fennimore the task of discovering the secret of the castle and the past the two men share. Fennimore sings a song intended as a distraction for the increasingly healthy but sullen Severin. The song incites him, however, and his obsession with taking revenge upon his assailant, the policeman unknown to him, grows. Frau von Luber learns Olim's secret. Severin enjoins Fennimore, dismissed by her aunt, to go to the Silver Lake to find his comrades, who reveal the perpetrator's name, Olim, to Severin's astonishment and rage.
Fearing for his life, Olim has fled to the attic of a castle tower. Frau von Luber fools him into giving her the castle and his fortune in exchange for her protection. She leaves the tower, locking him inside. Severin, in the castle cellar, has had himself chained to a pillar, until his murderous fury subsides. Frau von Luber visits Severin and is surprised at the change in his temperament and disposition toward Olim. She leaves and locks Severin in the cellar. In the dining hall, Frau von Luber and her partner Baron Laur gloat over their assumption of the fortune and the anticipated demise of Olim and Severin. Frau von Luber commands Fennimore to perform a dance with the keys and, after she leaves, von Luber and Laur sing s duet about a fool's paradise. Meanwhile, Fennimore has released Olim and Severin from their cells and effected a reconciliation between them. Frau von Luber, furious, banishes first Fennimore and then Olim and Severin to wintry oblivion. Olim and Severin head toward the Silver Lake and to their certain end, but the voices of Fennimore and a chorus are heard, exhorting them to ga forward, mindful of their duties to one another and to society. They reach the forest at the banks of the Silver Lake, where winds miraculously sweep away the snow to reveal spring in winter's midst. Olim and Severin start forward, with renewed hope, over the frozen Silver Lake.