Vörös Hajnal (Red Dawn), a co-operative is the venue of skylarking, while the storm destroys the wheat which is to be harvested soon. Árendás, a middle-peasant, voices severe accusations against members of the co-operative: out of negligence, they failed to keep the ditches clean. It is always the soft option they seem to favour, while the necessity of properly taking care of the farmlands is long-forgotten. Members of the co-operative and the village people are deeply divided.

Ernő, under a pseudonym, takes up a position as a music teacher at a girls' school under the patronage of his grandmother, Countess Szerémy, to meet one of the pretty students, Martha, who later turns out to be the child of her grandmother's disowned son. The Countess agrees to the young couple's marriage, but Márta falls in love with Colonel Örkényi's nephew Kálmán. In the meantime, Ernő's feelings change, and he meets Kálmán's sister Piroska, whom he would prefer to marry. The Colonel, whose planned marriage to Countess Serémy was prevented by her mother when he was young, refuses to hear of it.

Varsa engineer receives the Kossuth award for his excellent work. His career once began at the family enterprise of his wife, so the woman invites her relatives for a dinner party.

György Dandin, the rich bourgeois concludes a marriage contract with the noblemen Lükeházy couple who has turned poor: he can marry their daughter in return of a regular financial contribution. Angyalka escapes the undesired husband at their very first night, and furthermore she establishes a secret romantic relationship with Count Klitander who suits her a lot better.