The fiddler Valenta has troubled his wife with his drinking and disorderly life. His daughter Rozárka and her younger sisters go to their aunt's in Prague, and their father sets fire to the abandoned house. Rozárka is suspected...

A young farmer, Jan Aleš, is drafted from his native Pošumaví to join the army. Since he likes his new environment, he stays with the army as a long-term serviceman. He even successfully passes the exams for the military academy. There he becomes friends with his Slovak colleague Milan Jurčík. He studies diligently, but thanks to Milan he sometimes finds time to go out into the city. That is how he meets the factory owner's daughter, Zdenka, with whom he falls in love. However, her father is not very happy about the promising relationship.

A kind-hearted man and lawyer's clerk, Kypr, selflessly takes care of his ward Anna Marie and in the evenings helps the poor and helpless with various legal problems at the U Hrubiána pub. While Anna Marie gains the opportunity to succeed as a singer, the aging man struggles with growing problems that stem not only from his work as a lawyer for the poor, but above all from his tragic past shrouded in mystery, which catches up with him again after years...

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.