The film, which transpires somewhere in rural Austria during pre-World War II days, opens with a murder. Hillinger, a well-known farmer in the region, is brutally killed by a mysterious woman. In his will, instead of bequeathing his land and livestock to the Church, he gives it to the ten peasants who toiled for him. Suddenly, this small group, none of whom have ever had a possession in their lives, are given the opportunity to work for themselves, not for someone else. With this sudden, unexpected freedom thrust upon them, they have no idea what to do.
Dissension splits their ranks.
The remaining seven agree to work the land together. But their idyllic existence is doomed. The Inheritors works on two levels - as a character drama and as an allegory about the fate of those who defy a corrupt and overwhelming power. There's something of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and Fyodor Dostoevsky in Ruzowitzky's script. In addition to an undisguised social message, The Inheritors is not afraid to throw some dark humor and light fantasy into an otherwise grim tale.