The hero of the story, Gyuszi Ádám, the Jómadár, a lawyer's clerk in Pest, returns home to his parents in Kőhegy, and disrupts the stale, uneventful life of the small town with his mere appearance. He decides to revive his father's dying law firm and marry his 23-year-old sister, who is rapidly approaching the age of the "fair maiden". He successfully carries out his plans, tidies up the office and marries Sárika to their neighbour, with whom she has been hopelessly in love since she was a little girl. But in the meantime, she too falls into the trap of love...

Miklós Kátay, a spoiled, peppery gentleman, changes to his advantage when he joins the military. He is helped by his old acquaintance, Sergeant Menyhért, who is courting his cook, and a new recruit, Balázs, who becomes his friend. In the barracks, he chats and chats at first, but at the front, where he is now an ensign, he is a hero. He is welcomed back by his friend Éva, the Colonel's ugly niece, and by another Éva, the beautiful daughter of a retired Colonel.