The film opens with the plight of Jakobli Jowäger, the scion of the family, who is suffering from smallpox and was not vaccinated. The family housekeeper, Mädi, has been treating him with various unguents, which the visiting doctor dismisses with contempt. Jakobli retains some facial scarring and loses his vision in one eye, but otherwise recovers. The film goes on to describe the conflicts within the Jowäger family and between them and the neighboring families as Jakobli seeks a bride, as well as the conflicts between the doctor (and the progressive minister who supports him) and the general populace (including the Jowäger family) which tends to superstition and is more inclined to trust charlatans and folk remedies than academic medicine.