The old, sickly Demeter Lapussa is a tyrant in the family. He forces his granddaughter, the beautiful Henriette, to marry baron Hátszegi, although the girl loves the penniless Vámhidy Szilárd. The two lovers attempt to commit suicide, then are torn away from each other.

Karoline and her daughter Marlene do not know that their long-absent son and brother Franz has been killed in the war. Franz's soldier friend Alwin goes to tell them the news, but in the event he can't bring himself to tell them the truth.