Background: A long time ago it was common for poachers picked up to be forged onto a living deer. When the ruling prince once saw such a punishment, he felt sorry for him and promised inheritance to anyone who would shoot the deer without injuring the man. A body hunter named Kuno succeeded in shooting the master. However, since there was a rumor that the shooter had loaded a free bullet, the prince determined that in future everyone who wanted to take over the forester would have to take a test shot on the orders of the ruling prince. The current forester, great-grandson of the marksman and also Kuno by name, has no son, so his future son-in-law Max is to take over the forester's house. The day of the test shot, on which Max is also to be married with his Agathe, is approaching, but Max, otherwise one of the best shooters, has been missing every target for days.

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Max also fails miserably when shooting stars and is mocked by the farmers. Kuno warns him seriously: If the test shot fails, he will not marry Agathe and will not be able to take over the ranger. The hunter fellow Kaspar offers him his help: he shows him that there are balls that never fail and tells how to get them. Max gets involved in casting free balls with Kaspar in the Wolfsschlucht at midnight.

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The possibility that Max might fail the test shot deeply worries Agathe. To seek comfort, she sought out a pious man who lives in a hermitage in the area. The hermit warned her of a great danger and gave her a bouquet of white roses. Her friend Ännchen tries unsuccessfully to dispel Agathe's dark premonitions. Agathe is only a little relieved when Max tells him that his hunting luck has apparently returned. But it seems changed. On the pretext of having to fetch a hunted deer from the forest, he quickly says goodbye to set off into the Wolfsschlucht. Agathe and Ännchen try in vain to stop him. In the Wolfsschlucht, Kaspar calls in the devilish hunter Samiel, to whom he has fallen in love. He offers to drive Max into the net as a new victim if Samiel extends his lifespan again. Samiel responds to the pact, and Kaspar summons him to direct the last bullet, the target of which Samiel himself, to Agathe. Max overcomes his horror and descends into the Wolfsschlucht. Accompanied by horrifying phenomena, Max pours seven free balls under Kaspar's guidance.

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Agathe had a nightmare that seems to confirm her gloomy suspicions: she saw herself as a white dove that Max had killed. Ännchen tries to drive away Agathes fear with a grotesque ghost story. Their efforts are finally nullified when there is a death's crown in the box for the maiden wreath. Agathe asks Äännchen to wreath her a wreath from the hermit's white roses. Meanwhile, Prince Ottokar is enthusiastic about Max ’marksmanship. Max, who only has one bullet left, asks Kaspar the last one, but he refuses and shoots himself so that Max remains only the bullet directed by Samiel. The prince assigns him a white dove as a target, Max, who suspects nothing good, pulls the trigger and Agathe and Kaspar fall to the ground. But Agathe passed out, the bullet hit Kaspar, who died with a curse on God and Satan. Max admits that he cast free balls with Kaspar and is expelled by the prince of the country. The hermit intervenes and demands a humane judgment: Max should prove himself as a capable hunter and respectable man for another year and then be allowed to marry Agathe. The trial shot will be abolished.