Faithful to his word, Michael Tímar, captain of the St. Barbara, becomes the guardian of Kondya, daughter of a Turkish aristocrat on the run. Later, he weds the grateful young Turkish girl whom he saved from the waters of the Danube. While skillfully managing his wife's fortune, entrepreneur Tímar becomes an important wholesaler of wheat and exports his products to Brazil. But his marriage of convenience proves a failure. He is torn between the demands of bourgeois civilization, governed by money, and the ideal of freedom, consisting of living simply within nature. He then takes refuge by the side of the sweet Noemi on an island on the Danube.
The wild peasant lad, Göndör Sándor, loves Bátki Tercsi, but the heart of the girl burns for the son of the mayor, Feledi Lajos. He is frantic with despair, and Finum Rózsi who is hopelessly in love with Sándor tries to calm him down in vain.
