The traveling carpenter Johannes Keinath is returning to his beloved Lake Constance for the first time in 20 years. He had once left an argument after he had struck down his brother Justus in a violent argument. As soon as he got home - his brother has still not forgiven him - the homecomer gets into a fight again: When two crooks attacked him after visiting the bar, the strong carpenter defends himself with all his might. Against his will, Johannes injures one of the crooks so badly that he believes he has killed him and fled out of fear. Disguised as a monk, he goes into hiding in a small lake village where "Brother Johannes" soon wins the trust of Pastor Arne Clausen. The Protestant clergyman is fighting to keep his dilapidated church, which is to be replaced by a modern motorway church. The support of the energetic monk is welcome to Clausen - Johannes can lend a hand, and his argument: "The church should be left in the village" is heard in the community. The shrewd glass shop owner Ulrich Neigenfindt is less enthusiastic, who has already snatched the precious church windows under the nail and wants to earn a lot from the new construction of the post-modern glass motorway church. Even more annoying for Neigenfindt is that the attractive carpenter's widow Sylvia, whom he has been keeping an eye on for a long time, gets along very well with brother Johannes. When Neigent finds out by chance that the supposed monk is being wanted by the police, he believes he can finally eliminate his adversary. But God's ways are unfathomable.

Ein Gauner Gottes

Germany, mid-1950s. Dr. Gerd Vorweg, Lord Mayor of a district town, can be completely satisfied with his life. A few years after the end of the war, he helped his town to regain prosperity and prosperity by setting up a large textile company. He is popular with the locals and has a showcase marriage with his wife Katharina. When Katharina suddenly disappears without a trace, this idyll is suddenly destroyed.