Der letzte Postillon vom St. Gotthard

Postillon Johannes Zgraggen kann den Tag absehen, an dem er die letzte Postkutsche über den Pass fahren wird, denn am Eisenbahntunnel wird bereits gebaut. Da verliebt sich seine Tochter ausgerechnet in einen Ingenieur, der am Tunnelbau beteiligt ist. Und just die Schwester des Wildhüters verliebt sich in einen Wilderer, der ursprünglich Absichten auf die Tochter des Postillons gehabt hat. Dieser würde seine Tochter lieber an einen Gesetzesbrecher vergeben als an einen fremden Tunnelbauer.

The title means "The last postillion (stage-coachman) of the St.Gotthard-pass". A company of select people joins the horse-driven coach for crossing the center of the Alps over the traditional path high on the mountain valley. It is the time of railways as the means of modernization. A tunnel is going to be built. The new fast way would render useless the small transport industry from which local people had made their living. The great mountainous landscape is the background for the conflicts which arise between rich and poor, local traditionalists and foreign modernizers. The daughter of a local, who is opposed against the tunnel, would like to get engaged with a tunnel engineer, but is also coveted by a local favored by her father.