Two poor students, Strnad and Křepelka, console themselves with the fact that Křepelka is to inherit, but it later turns out that the inheritance is only an old hat. The young man seeks help from his relative, the merchant Koliáš, who is the guardian of the beautiful Bětuška. Křepelka immediately falls in love with the girl, but the old miser does not want to hear about his poor nephew. Strnad finally comes up with an idea to use the hat to trick the greedy merchant...