Mr. and Mrs. Gyurkovics have a dozen children the oldest of which, the twins Géza and Bandi, just preparing for their matriculation examination. When graduation day has come Géza refuses to set up but taken by force by the principal's henchmen. When dad Gyurkovics later dies, takes over Bandi goods while Géza becoming an officer cadet in the nearby garrison city.

Slipper hero Ernst Rolf is married to a real Xantippa and also has concerns with the economy, so when the superintendent is shirking his home. In town, he meets his friend Boman and accompanies him to the Opera Terrace. There, he laments that the sweet woman he once married has turned into a bitch. He fantasizes about other women (who dances in his mind in trick photography on the terrace table). Boman decides to help him by writing a letter, in which Rolf called to a meeting in Jönköping. The idea is to Rolf with this pretext to escape from home and be able to amuse themselves on Hasselbackens masquerade next evening.