During an informal visit in province Styria, where he represents the imperial Habsburg house, archduke Johann, brother of Austrian emperor Francis I, falls in love with Anna Plochl, the postmaster's equally common daughter. Johann and his arranged Wurtemberg royalty bride both decline a dynastic alliance advised by minister Metternich in favor of their private loves. The emperor refuses to allow a marriage, yet Johann lets Anna move in to live nearly as spouses, without sharing the bed. A near-tragedy rocks that boat seven years later