Jiřina, a factory clerk, refuses the amorous advances of her friend Pavel since they are both too poor to start a family. Jiřina tells Pavel that he would be better off courting her hard-working sister Marie. Jiřina, however, cannot endure the burden of poverty and she leaves for the city while Pavel transfers his affections to Marie. After years Jiřina works as a secretary to Jičínský, the factory owner. During this time, Maria has given Pavel a daughter. Marie, however, is struck by an insidious disease and Pavel is wounded at work in the factory. Jičínský asks Jiřina to marry him and offers her all his worldly belongings. Jiřina does not know that her sister has died. After Marie's death, Pavel lives with his little daughter and his father-in-law. They are very poor, however, and Pavel has to give up his daughter into the care of the malicious neighbour and put his father-in-law into a poorhouse. Then he goes out into the world to try to find some happiness. When Pavel returns with the wealth he has acquired, he marries Jiřina who in the meantime became a widow.
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