The drama offers Arnošt Pánek, chairman of the National Committee, as the protagonist of the story. Pánek is disturbed by news of the arrest of his protégé Kvasil – chairman of a JZD agricultural cooperative in the nearby village of Spádová. He is responsible for the revival of a neglected village, but is now accused of theft, fraud, and – on top of that – the rape of an under-aged girl.

In the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects.