Count Christian von Meruh, Udo Kier, is a devout witch hunter and apprentice to Lord Cumberland, Herbert Lom, who arrives in a remote Alpine village in early 18th‑century Austria. The town has fallen under the shadow of Albino, a self-styled witch hunter who uses fear and false indictments to terrorize the women and push his own brutal agenda. Under his grip, the villagers endure cruel accusations and gruesome executions that push the community toward silence and complicity. In this tense atmosphere, Christian carries a quiet resolve to see justice tempered with mercy, even as he watches the escalating cruelty around him.
In the tavern and along the lanes, Vanessa Benedikt, Olivera Katarina, stands up to Albino’s coercive tactics. She refuses his advances and insists she is not a witch, a stance that earns her both sympathy and danger. Christian, drawn to her courage, grows protective of Vanessa, and a wary trust forms between them as they navigate a landscape where fear can be weaponized by those who claim moral authority.
When Cumberland finally arrives to preside over the trials, Deidre von Bergenstein, Gaby Fuchs, is accused of bearing the devil’s child. She insists she was raped by a nobleman, yet her pleas of innocence are drowned out by the ritualized pressure to confess. The ritual ends with a harsh sequence of tortures and a public verdict that seems designed to satisfy an agenda more than to uncover truth. The ruthlessness on display underscores a system that values conformity and possession of land and wealth over justice or compassion.
Christian’s growing doubt about the proceedings hardens into a resolve to shield Vanessa, even as Cumberland renews the indictments and the pressure to condemn intensifies. In a grim moment, Cumberland lays bare a grim premise: some lives must be sacrificed to preserve the larger project of the witch trials. Baron Daumer, Michael Maien, becomes a focal point of this coercive logic, as he is presented with a stark ultimatum about surrendering his inherited lands to spare his life.
The simmering power struggle between Cumberland and Albino erupts into violence, and Albino meets a brutal end when Cumberland, in a fit of rage, strangles him after being accused of impotence. Christian witnesses the murder, and this act deepens his internal conflict about faith, loyalty, and the corrupt moral compass driving the trials. The sense that the entire operation hinges on deceit and opportunism gnaws at him as the scope of the exploitation becomes clearer.
A pawn in the larger scheme, a family is dragged into the controversy over a puppet show, and Christian pleads for mercy, but Cumberland refuses, arguing that a few casualties are necessary to elevate their cause and secure a martyr’s afterlife. The simmering revolt grows as Vanessa fans the flames of resistance, revealing the truth behind the sham indictments and rallying the villagers to challenge the witch hunters’ grip on power. The tension culminates in a violent clash, a public execution that includes the Baron's beheading, and a narrow escape for Cumberland as the authorities flee by carriage.
As the revolt intensifies, the villagers turn their anger toward the two men who have presided over the terror. Christian is captured and subjected to a wrenching punishment that resembles a witch catcher, a device strapped around his waist as he is hoisted by his arms. The crowd believes him complicit in the deceit, and it is only moments before Vanessa arrives, heartbroken and determined, to rescue him. The villagers disperse in the aftermath, leaving behind a village that has endured fear, exposed lies, and a hard-won, fragile sense of justice finally breaking through.
