The bickering of envious mistresses, the criminal intentions of fraudsters and the love of two young people are at the center of events, in the middle of which unfolds the fate of the city executioner Jiří, who longs to break free from his destiny and become a proper burgher. He is not heard, but he manages to expose the iniquities and their culprits, reunites a hard-pressed couple in love and his undeniable merits for the city and eventually bring him luck.

Emanuel Pokorný, a bachelor, is to join a rural church school as a professor. Before leaving, however, he finds an infant abandoned in his room. Since he has no time to search for the child's parents, he secretly takes the child to the boarding house. And from that moment on, there is no end to his travails...

The generally respected director of a small-town savings bank, Hlavsa, commits embezzlement because of his wasteful and spoiled wife, and when the situation cannot be saved, he shoots himself. His mother, a simple village woman, takes in her widowed daughter-in-law and teenage grandson on the condition that they both help her to compensate for all the damage. For the city lady, the hard village work is suffering. The same goes for young Bořík, a gifted pianist who finds it difficult to give up his dreams of an artistic career...

Leopold Kohák married a rich widow a long time ago and now has nothing to do compared to his energetic wife. He's growing old and troubled by the fact that he betrayed his first love Emča and his beloved river Sázava where he spent his childhood and youth. A visit from an old friend Lebeda brings it all back to him. After a nervous breakdown Leopold secretly visits his home instead of going to the spa. A wandering tramp suggest Leopold should bathe in the magical waters of the Sázava, and slowly his youth returns to him.