Kasim, a rich man lives by lending money by collecting taxes from the residents in his place, most of whom are farmers. In addition, Kasim also opened an illegal gambling place disguised as a coffee shop. As an attraction, the shop provided dancers and singers. In this way, many farmers, especially young people, were forced to borrow money from Kasim and most of the money they used to gamble which eventually returned to Kasim.

Because he was tempted by Atmo's story from the city, Dul left the village. In the city, Dul and Atmo stayed at the house of Moh. Uskar who had a beautiful daughter, Hayati. After their money ran out, Dul and Atmo started looking for work. They never stayed in a job for long, and were always fired for doing something stupid. Uskar was finally thrown out of his boarding house, because he had not paid for food for two months. In that confused state, Dul and Atmo lived in a "ghost house", which turned out to be a gathering place for criminals.

Even though he had a son and a daughter from Suciati, Samsu was still tempted by other women. His wife and two children were left in Yogya, then Samsu went to Jakarta. Because of her suffering, Suci was blind and worked as a massage therapist. Suci migrated to Jakarta, and happened to be asked to massage Samsu.