Dr. Kálmán Bajor, a lawyer in his fifties, falls in love with his friend's secretary, twenty-year-old Turkish Vali. Valit seduces his young suitor and asks her to marry him. The lawyer's daughter Mimi does not look kindly on the marriage, but she cannot dissuade her father. So she solves the matter with a woman's logic. Apparently in love with her father's friend, she gets engaged to Uncle Árpád, also over fifty. But the game turns serious, and Uncle Árpád really falls in love with the pretty girl.

Jella lives in a village in the mountains of Transylvania. She fights a solitary battle against the men courting her aggressively and the malevolence of the village community, her ill-reputed mother being expelled from the village for her immoral lifestyle. One day, she is attacked by a group of lads from the village. Thrown into a fright, she tries to escape across the forest, ending up near the house of Balogh Péter, a track-watchman.

The son of a wealthy landowner, Miklós Pálfalvy, who leads a frivolous life, becomes involved in forging bills of exchange. The forged paper falls into the hands of his future father-in-law, banker Mihályi, who blackmails the young man. Miklós breaks up with Mihályi and decides to go abroad with the rest of his money. Before he leaves, he visits Jessy, a beautiful florist girl with whom he has been attracted for some time. After a nice day together, Nicholas is arrested and sent to prison. In despair, he attempts suicide, but later, when he starts working in the prison blacksmith's shop on the advice of the chaplain, the welcome fatigue of hard work and the sober philosophy of the blacksmith heal his soul. After his release, he breaks with his social class, works as a blacksmith and marries Jessy, who has been faithfully waiting for him.