Germany in May 1945: the war is over, men are returning home and a new life begins in the villages. After 12 years in a concentration camp, the "Red Shoemaker" also returns to his home village. His wife is dead and others live in his house: Gebhardt, an employee on the farm of the large farmer Winter, and his family. The "Red Shoemaker" comes to stay with Hübner and his daughter Agnes. Over the past terrible years, he had repeatedly felt the hatred within him and wanted to take revenge on those who had sent him to the concentration camp. But now he wants to look to the future and takes on the position of mayor here in the village. He works to ensure that the village is supplied with food and tries to ensure that the fascist ideology disappears from people's minds. In doing so, he also makes enemies.