Director Werner Herzog adapts a Bavarian folk tale about a Nostradamus-like mystic named Hias (Josef Bierbichler), who prophesies the coming industrial revolution and the downfall of his small community.
In 17th century Bavaria, a community loses its ability to produce a unique ruby glass when its chief glass blower carries the secret to his grave. The glass is imbued with mysterious properties, and the villagers succumb first to depression and then to collective madness. The owner of the factory, Huttenbesitzer, is obsessed with discovering the manufacturer's lost secret, a quest that in true Herzog style is compulsive, relentless and futile.
