A graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy, Karel Stržický earns extra money in the summer as a day laborer for the landowner Drahan. Jarča, the Drahans' daughter, spends the holidays with her parents, and her father has a lot of worries about her. The unsuccessful student is failing her German. However, an easy solution is offered - Karel will prepare her for remedial work. The mischievous Jarča considers him an ordinary coachman, and so she initially turns her nose up at him. However, the cultured young man manages to win her trust and heart. This does not go down well with his rival in the fight for the girl's favor, and he immediately comes up with a nasty slander: Karel is supposedly a former convict! A rift is not long in coming...