Klári lives in Pest with her widowed mother and works at a china-store. But she is a little clumsy and causes trouble everywhere.

Kovács, chief cashier, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his school-leaving exams at the grammar-school. He takes his friends to a night-club.

Veronika, the niece of the parish priest of Glogova, came to the priesthood because of the death of her mother. While the priest was praying for a blessing in front of the cross in the field, a grey old man put an umbrella over the little girl. It is still believed in the village that St. Peter himself came to protect the little orphan from the rain. Years go by and Veronika grows up to be a beautiful girl, who falls in love with a law student from Pest, Gyuri Wibra. Interestingly enough, Gyuri - known to be the illegitimate son of the rich Gregorics - inherits only an umbrella from his father...

Irene flees her village with circus fisherman Aristid, endures a failed marriage and returns home only to be rejected by her father—who nonetheless raises her daughter Anikó, before they all relocate to town, where Irene remarries wealthy Gustav but remains unhappy without her father and child by her side. When a spiteful caretaker kidnaps Anikó to thwart them, Gustav and the authorities rescue the girl, revealing her grandfather’s true identity and reuniting mother, daughter and father at last.

You can get anywhere in a tailcoat. Viktor Norton, a young man imprisoned by mistake, also knows this. In Viktor’s tailcoat, he can easily get to the Excelsior Hotel, where he will meet the newly wealthy Dupont couple and their daughter Marie.

The son of a wealthy landowner, Miklós Pálfalvy, who leads a frivolous life, becomes involved in forging bills of exchange. The forged paper falls into the hands of his future father-in-law, banker Mihályi, who blackmails the young man. Miklós breaks up with Mihályi and decides to go abroad with the rest of his money. Before he leaves, he visits Jessy, a beautiful florist girl with whom he has been attracted for some time. After a nice day together, Nicholas is arrested and sent to prison. In despair, he attempts suicide, but later, when he starts working in the prison blacksmith's shop on the advice of the chaplain, the welcome fatigue of hard work and the sober philosophy of the blacksmith heal his soul. After his release, he breaks with his social class, works as a blacksmith and marries Jessy, who has been faithfully waiting for him.

The "sleepless years" in this propaganda piece by director Felix Marlassy occur on Csepel Island, an island south of Budapest that is home to an armaments factory. The factory workers are shown being exploited by imperialists, capitalists gone berserk, and fascists, more or less in that exact chronological sequence. The heavy-handed approach does much to undercut the belief that when socialism finally takes over, the lives of the workers are brought up to a human level. In this instance, audiences might prefer a more nuanced and subtle statement, no matter what the message.

A shipment of gold being flown from Paris to Budapest is robbed in mid-air.