The burly Abruzzo, a good-natured fellow with the temperament of a butcher's dog, has no fun under his domineering wife Martha. One day he has had enough and leaves home to lead a completely new and, above all, different life as a bandit captain. Together with two other gallows birds, the somewhat dim-witted robbers Tarta and Sigi, he forms a small gang. When two horsemen escape an ambush, the gang takes up the chase, which leads them to a nearby castle. One of the escaped horsemen, the attractive cavalry captain Philipp Weinsberg, immediately takes a liking to the beautiful lady of the castle, Isabella, who, however, is less than pleased when Abruzzo's gang of cutthroats follows him.