The top management of the co-operative in the rural community at Lake Balaton goes on coaches everywhere to irritate Mrs. Peczöli, the snobbish wife of the only individual farmer. Peczöli would readily join the co-operative, should it not oppose his apple improving experiments.

Every member of a small community in the snow-capped Bükk Mountains is trying to help the doctor get to István Simon forester's house where his wife is about to give birth to their first child.

The young worker Tóth Gáspár gets into hospital with stomachache. During the night his state is worsening. The doctor on duty, Málnási does not attend the patient despite the call of the nurse, for he spends the night with nurse Margó.

Imre, secretary of the illegal communist party arrives in Budapest secretly in 1942, in order to start the newspaper of the party in the fight against war. Not even his own mother can see him.

Nagy István, the formerly poor peasant boy returns to his native village as a teacher. His conviction is that the abyss between rich and poor can be diminished by good will. The rich Böröcz Horváth Klári returns his love, and also Böröcz Horváth is willing to help the poorest family, the Bakos. Bakos Jóska, who was sent to serve the tough Böröcz Horváth as a payment, dies of an infected wound and the people in the village hold the teacher liable as well. Nagy István realises, that the abyss cannot be ceased, what is more, it is impassable. He breaks up with his fiancée and stands by the side of the poor.

The movie is based on a novel by I. Astalos. It tells about the hard life of poor people in bourgeois Hungary.