Grieshuus tells the story of the conflict between Hinrich and Detlev, two brothers who are the airs to the ruler ship of the titular Grey House, a castle and small town somewhere in rural Germany. The film has two definite arcs. The first tells how Hinrich falls out of favor with his father by marrying a maid (whom he meets while saving her from gang rape by a group of crazed nomads, in one of the first sections most inspired sequences as well as one of its most Griffith-esque), and has himself written out of the inheritance. The vain and aristocratic Detlev returns just in time for their father to have a heart attack. The two brothers spar over control of the castle and land, with the local surfs on Hinrich's side and the law on Detlev's. The conflict swirls out of control, and after the death of Hinrich's young wife, the “good” son Hinrich finally loses any semblance of sanity and brutally kills Detlev on a windy hill. Hinrich, now a fugitive, disappears. The second arc begins a decade or so later, where Hinrich's son has been raised and groomed by the surfs to eventually take over the now shuttered Grey House. Detlev's widow has returned and plans to kidnap the child and take over the land herself, but Hinrich has also wandered back to his old home town, now worn and aged. The Ghost of Hinrich's wife appears and allows for a miraculous rescue by both frightening Detlev's widow and alerting Hinrich to the danger their son is in. Hinrich dies saving his sons life, and we assume as the film fades to black that the child will become a benevolent ruler of Grey House.