The old farmer Franz Flender wants to marry his daughter Wally to the wealthy farmer Josef Gruber. The two were once a couple, but their different ideas about life drove them apart. Wally resists the advances of the now widowed Josef. When he asks her to dance at the village festival, she snubs him in front of the entire village community. Flender, who confronts his stubborn daughter, loses control in anger and Wally leaves the farm, shaken. In the lonely mountain wilderness, her only companion is a young eagle that she rescued after it fell from the nest. It is thanks to him that she is nicknamed "Geierwally" ("Vulture Wally"). Meanwhile, the maid Veronika schemes against Wally with blatant lies in order to drive the wedge between father and daughter even deeper and win Josef over...