The journalist Hans Trautendorffer, an expert in economy and finance, makes a bet to spend a year as a farm-hand. He finds work in the mountains where he is faced with hard and, at times, humiliating work. In time however he integrates with the peasant's family and shares the joys and sorrows that the seasons reserve for them on the farm. In the end he marries the peasant's daughter and returns to the town all the richer for his experience.