Maurice Farinet, a young Swiss peasant, has found a gold deposit in the mountains and starts producing counterfeit money. He is arrested but manages to escape. The village people are on his side and shelter him. Arrested a second time, he runs away once again and is hidden and protected by Joséphine, the waitress of the inn, who is in love with him. But Farinet puts the mayor in an awkward situation. Should he bring him to justice or not?