Our aims were to characterize the fate of leaf-litter-derived nitrogen in the plant-soil-microbe system of a temperate beech forest of Southern Germany and to identify its importance for N nutrition of beech seedlings. N-15-labelled leaf litter was traced in situ into abiotic and biotic N pools in mineral soil as well as into beech seedlings and mycorrhizal root tips over three growing seasons. There was a rapid transfer of N-15 into the mineral soil already 21 days after tracer application with soil microbial biomass initially representing the dominant litter-N sink. However, N-15 recovery in non-extractable soil N pools strongly increased over time and subsequently became the dominant N-15 sink. Recovery in plant biomass accounted for only 0.025 % of N-15 excess after 876 days. After three growing seasons, N-15 excess recovery was characterized by the following sequence: non-extractable soil N >> extractable soil N including microbial biomass >> plant biomass > ectomycorrhizal root tips. After quick vertical dislocation and cycling through microbial N pools, there was a rapid stabilization of leaf-litter-derived N in non-extractable N pools of the mineral soil. Very low N-15 recovery in beech seedlings suggests a high importance of other N sources such as root litter for N nutrition of beech understorey.