Alma Seidler

In the made-up country of Alanien, King Alexander I has been overthrown while abroad. Now, he's in Vienna with his daughter, the city of his fondest memories since studying there as a boy. It doesn't take long for the charm of Vienna to work its magic on the former king: he quickly comes to terms with the new situation and is able to enjoy the Austrian capital sans all the ceremony and trappings which would otherwise accompany him on a state visit. The princess is content with preparing herself for a career as a pianist concert, while the former king takes a job as a chauffeur in the embassy of the country he once ruled. The revolutionaries are shocked; and his days in Vienna are numbered.

In Alt-Köstendorf in the Salzburg region, the dean, known as Seelenbräu, and the brewer Hochleithner, known in the village as Leibesbräu, are fighting for supremacy. As their nicknames suggest, Leibesbräu is primarily concerned with the physical well-being of the villagers, while Seelenbräu cares deeply about the faith of his congregation. This leads to repeated clashes between the two men, who could perhaps be described as stubborn. When Hochleitner's niece Clementine leaves the convent and wants to stay at home, a new dispute flares up between Seelenbräu and Leibesbräu.

The innkeeper of the Linden Inn is struggling with her debts and her rival, the butcher Kilian. A boost comes when the young interior designer Helga furnishes the inn with furniture from a nearby castle. In the process, she falls in love with the estate manager, Fred, who is an avowed misogynist...

The multi-millionaire Eduard Schlüter takes part under the name Schulze in a raffle of his own Schlüter works and wins a stay at the Grand Hotel. Disguised as a poor swallower, he would like to study the reactions of the hotel staff and guests. As an assistant, he takes his reliable servant Johann with him. Once there, he makes friends and also has cause for annoyance when his daughter and the housekeeper arrive.

With a certain degree of audacity, Girardi from Graz manages to gain a foothold at the Strampfertheater, a well-attended traditional theater in Vienna. However, his engagement as a new comedian leads to fierce competition with the theater's established star, Felix Schweighofer. Girardi's plans to entertain the audience at a high level are ultimately crowned with success, even though he is long underrated. He is hired by the Theater an der Wien, where, during rehearsals for a new operetta, he even persuades the strict Johann Strauss to compose an additional waltz for him. Girardi distills his special brand of comedy from events beyond the stage, from his own experiences. Confidently, the actor rises to become a favorite with the audience, against all odds. All of Vienna is enthusiastic about Girardi, singing his songs and applauding his shows.

Biggi is about to take her high school diploma. To avoid an impending chemistry exam, she fakes an illness. She obtains the necessary certificate from the handsome doctor Dr. Weiringk. She promptly falls in love with her savior and marries him. However, as the young wife of a busy doctor, Biggi soon feels abandoned. Professor Dr. Weiringk, her father-in-law, thinks little of her. She says she's only distracting his son from his homework. That's just one of the reasons for her decision to retake her high school diploma. Biggi secretly goes back to school. The double life as wife and student proves to be exhausting.

In the Vienna of the Biedermeier era, the young Carl makes a delicate wager with two officers: If he does not succeed in presenting a new romantic adventure by the next day, he has to treat the soldiers to ten bottles of sparkling wine. Albeit he tries in vain to seduce the pretty maid Franzi, Carl brags about his alleged conquest the next day in his favourite pub. When the senior lieutenant Stephan, who is head over heels in love with Franzi, hears about Carl’s putative success, he writes, out of his lovelornness, a catchy song about the carefree maids of Vienna. The song becomes the talk of the town — but the Viennese maids are so disgruntled about the earworm that they go on strike in protest at the grand Radetzky ball…

A long time-span of Austrian history (from the late 19th century to the years after world war II) is reflected in the ups and downs of a family of piano-makers in Vienna.