The Burgundian master-at-arms Hagen von Tronje holds the crisis-ridden kingdom together with a sense of duty and iron toughness. In doing so, he suppresses his secret love for the king's daughter Kriemhild and represses his own dark past. When the famous dragon slayer Siegfried of Xanten appears in Worms and threatens the old structures with his unpredictability, Hagen increasingly becomes a tragic figure. The young King Gunter, still inexperienced after the sudden death of his father, sees Siegfried as a chance to save the kingdom. He asks him for help in taking the dangerous Valkyrie Brunhild, of all people, as his wife. When Kriemhild falls in love with Hagen's adversary Siegfried, he has to choose between love and loyalty to the king. Hagen of Tronje will find out who he really is.