Triplet brothers are very successful in their exploits as highwayman robbers: Dominik using his blunderbuss to intimidate coachmen and passengers, Felix using his pepper-blower to disorientate and blind the horses, while Maximus vandalizes and damages the carriage wheels with his red battle axe.
But, one day the robbers intercept a carriage, only to find a lonely girl named Tiffany whose parents died and is being sent to live with a wicked aunt who runs an orphanage.
While Tiffany makes the robbers question what they intend to do with their amassed wealth, she helps them learn to read and write when they want to send a ransom letter.
Auntie refuses to hand Tiffany over to the robbers before falling into her pastry-making vat in a fit of insanity and is turned into a cake which the orphans eat.
The book was adapted as a full-length feature film by Hayo Freitag, released in mid-2007 as Die Drei Rauber.