The film essentially uses the original text of the play. The weavers, who toil away at home, deliver their goods to the manufacturer Dreißiger and receive their meager wages. Led by the young weaver Bäcker and the former soldier Moritz Jäger, they form a resistance group and storm the manufacturer's villa, who barely manages to save himself and his family. As the revolt spreads, the king sends in the military to quell the uprising. The old weaver Hilse, who refuses to participate in the uprising for religious reasons, is hit by a stray bullet while sitting at his loom and dies.