Pista Dankó falls in love with Ilonka Jáky, the beautiful blonde lady, so his old love, Rózsi, the wild gypsy girl, puts a curse on him. Ilonka elopes with Pista and they marry. They live in difficult circumstances, but Lajos Pósa takes up the talented young man. Pista wants to recover his legendary violin, which has fallen into the possession of a Russian prince, so he goes on a tour of Russia. Here he meets Rózsi, who has become a famous dancer and now has a hold on him too. Meanwhile, Pista falls ill and returns home to die. In his last hours, a package arrives from Rosie. He plays his last song with the returned violin.

In World War I, two men who look almost identical fight in the same battalion at the front. One of them, Peter Benedek, a landowner, is killed, while István Pongrácz, a mechanical engineer, is hit while wearing Benedek's coat. The severe head injury causes temporary amnesia, and Pongrácz is mistakenly sent to the Benedek estate. Mrs. Benedek is pleased to see that her card-playing husband has become a solid, hard-working man after his wound. But Pongrácz begins to remember...

Ignác Semmelweis is 18 and is in Vienna, training to become a judge-advocate, to comply with the wishes of his family. He is, however, attracted by the medical science, and joins the team of Professor Rokitanszky.