Ryba, the owner of a boat rental shop and ferryman, has lived his entire life in a house by the river, which often becomes fatal for swimmers and suicides. However, because Ryba saves many drowning people, he becomes a very popular figure in the entire region.

A village shop owner is convinced by his children to move to Prague, where they say he'll be able to enjoy a fine retirement in a modern furnished apartment. Bored by life in Prague with nothing to do, the old man takes to helping a young widow in her stationery shop.

Marion Austerlitz is a stubborn person, much to the chagrin of her husband, Dr. Fritz Austerlitz. There's constantly some kind of excitement going on in their house: this time, Marion takes in a barking dog, much against the wishes of her husband; that time she's harrasses the old servant; then countless traffic tickets from the police come in the mail; or high bills for extravagant huts are delivered by the mailman. Finally, Fritz blows a fuse. In the presence of his friend, Professor Endres, and Marion's mother, a big fight breaks out between the couple.

Rudolf Bartoš, the owner of a farm, quarry and factory, is extremely rich, however, he is unapproachable and irritable, and the dread of his employees. One day he falls down a steep slope by a river and hurts himself. The quarryman Fábera finds him groaning in pain and takes him to his cottage.

A kind-hearted man and lawyer's clerk, Kypr, selflessly takes care of his ward Anna Marie and in the evenings helps the poor and helpless with various legal problems at the U Hrubiána pub. While Anna Marie gains the opportunity to succeed as a singer, the aging man struggles with growing problems that stem not only from his work as a lawyer for the poor, but above all from his tragic past shrouded in mystery, which catches up with him again after years...

Antique dealer Kohout is not a bad person. However, he has an ideal: to be the unlimited master at home. Therefore, he does not see his wife's wishes, nor the fact that his daughter Helena has found a groom, that his other daughter has fallen in love, and that his son is a passionate swimmer. He would like to run their lives according to his old-fashioned ideas. However, Zdenka's suitor, engineer Bečvář, uses a trap to gain Kohout's favor. The antique dealer even offers him Zdenka's hand in marriage. In addition, Kohout's brother, a forester, enters the story, who comes to Prague for a visit. By coincidence, the two brothers switch roles and the family considers their father a dear uncle...

The main character is a newly appointed associate professor MUDr. Jakub Johánek, a psychiatrist and timid teetotaler, who decides to celebrate his appointment with friends in a nightclub. The celebration, which lasts until late and the amount of alcohol consumed causes the hero to temporarily lose his memory, and in the morning, the old bachelor Johánek is not surprised. He had been eyeing the charming neighbor, poor Kateřina, for a long time, but his innate shyness did not allow him to do more. And now, as soon as his brain has recovered from the attack of an unprecedented amount of alcohol, his neighbor's enterprising roommate informs him that he had disgraced Kateřina while drunk, in order to help his friend, who also loves the nice and well-off doctor, in a somewhat peculiar way.