Grand Duke Konstanty marries Countess Joanna Grudzińska. However, Joanna still loves Major Łukasiński, and she agreed to the marriage out of a sense of patriotic duty. Łukasiński is arrested. The November Uprising breaks out. The conspirators capture Belweder Palace. Joanna hides Konstanty from them.

Stefcia Rudecka starts working as a governess in an aristocratic house. Waldemar, the young heir, falls in love with her but his well-off family is not eager to accept the woman he loves.