A highly romanticized autobiographical novel by a Czech 19th century writer, Bozena Nemcova. It's a classical, compulsory reading in Czech schools, about a wise, working-class woman, happier in her simplicity and good heart than the nobles whom she serves.

Jindřich Tůma, a partner in the gas mask shop "Asana", has a very energetic wife who promotes a vegetarian diet. The real soul of the company is Ing. Ivan Kareš, who also leads civil defense exercises. On the street, during a practice air raid warning, he sternly reprimands a girl who did not go to shelter. It is Věrka, the Tůma's niece, who comes from the countryside to finish her studies in Prague. Věrka enters the seventh grade and soon shares the enthusiasm of her classmates for an unknown composer whose pseudonym is Michal Marhan. Ing. Kareš gives a lecture on civil defense in the seventh grade and so meets Věrka again. Kareš tries to convince the girls of the necessity of more concrete life ideals. At the premiere of Marhan's operetta "Píseň o štěstí" it turns out that Kareš is the composer. The girls give him a standing ovation. Ivan ignores Věrka, with whom he has recently had a falling out. The stubborn girl therefore leaves for home...

In the past, most of the wood from the mountain forests was transported to the sawmills by river. The rafters were gradually replaced by trucks and railways, but they still remember the days of their glory and the romance of water travel. Two experienced old swimmers, Váň and Šindelář, managed to push for a return to the old way, at least for one trip. They got a group of like-minded enthusiasts and rafts made of logs can set off down the river...

The indebted owner of the Dubanský chateau sees the only way out of his debts in marrying his daughter Jana to the son of his childhood friend Bernard, now a millionaire. Without knowing each other, the young people are both against an arranged marriage. Dubanský himself marries a con artist who pretends to be a rich American and takes her on a honeymoon to the Tatras. In the meantime, the enterprising staff rents out the chateau under the name Bílá vrána to spa guests.