The story follows the life of a bright and sensitive schoolboy growing up in an old, established boarding school in the city of Debrecen in eastern Hungary.
The subject of this film is Dr. Ivan Egry, a young man, who becomes infatuated with Edit Ralben, the beautiful, but flirtatious, daughter of a prominent man. As the two get involved romantically, problems start to plague their relationship. When they end up separating, Ivan finds comfort with Josza, a pretty girl, much more stable than Edit, but far less glamorous. When Edit eventually re-enters Ivan’s life, he can’t resist her. Unable to resolve his conflicting emotions results in an abruptly tragic finale.
Set in the "Golden Era" of the wandering Hungarian theatre troupes. Mariska and Liliomfi fall in love without suspecting that Mariska's foster father, Professor Szilvay, is also Liliomfi's uncle. Soon the couple must contend with the professor's plan to make Liliomfi give up his "unrespectable" profession of acting by exposing the professor's hypocrisy, greed, and tyrannical selfishness.
