The protagonist of the story is Flora, a teacher who wants to teach in the village, in accordance with her vocation and her oath. Her beauty and purity bring her into conflict with the local authorities and with the landowning family of the countryside. Aware of her truth, she defies them, but can only count on the sympathy of the old priest. István Nagy Jr., the idle, dissolute landowner's son, falls in love with Flóra, and love changes him: he takes her side, exposing the lecherous hypocrites.

Two girls run away from a small village. Gyöngyi comes from an aristocratic family and her father throws her out of the house when he discovers she has gotten pregnant out of wedlock. She finds herself wandering the streets of Budapest and earns money playing the violin in a restaurant. Vica is an orphaned peasant; she is afraid of her stepfather and moves to the city where she gets a job on a construction site. Gyöngyi and Vica meet on the streets of Budapest, move in together and turn their lives around.

Anni, a young woman on the verge of divorce, moves into a hotel until the trial, where she meets a charming young man, Albert Sándor. Despite the fact that the lawsuit would prevent Anni from getting involved in a new relationship, she agrees to a compromising meeting. Only on the day of the trial does it become clear that Albert Sándor is the lawyer of Anni's husband, who doesn't want to hear about the divorce, and has been keeping a private eye on her. Anni thinks she is being set up.

The story follows the life of a bright and sensitive schoolboy growing up in an old, established boarding school in the city of Debrecen in eastern Hungary.

Mr. Polgár is a provincial paper dealer. His sons, Viktor and Feri, are managers in a big factory in the capital, spending their money lavishly, living their lives in a careless, irresponsible way. Viktor is to marry a baroness and feels rather too uneasy about his father's small business. He persuades his old man into selling the business he had so long cherished and to move to their place in Pest.