In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.
Tóna Bohácek (Pavel Landovský) has been a great worry to his mother, Mrs Bohácková (Stella Zázvorková). All his friends equal in age are already married and some of them even have children - only Tóna still has nothing. Mother Bohácková thus publishes an ad in the Lonely Hearts column on behalf of her son. From among the girls who responded, she picks out Janicka, a girl from the neighboring village, and then forces Tóna to go to have a look at her and bring her home. The date of the two young people, however, does not turn out well due to the embarrassment on both sides, and Tóna returns home drowning in the feeling of ridiculousness. On the way, he picks up hitchhiker Kveta (Regina Rázlová) from Prague. Only then, he realizes that the mother with her festive dinner is waiting for him and Janicka at home and thus asks Kveta to substitute for the girl from the ad.
