A talented violin-playing country boy struggles to get acceptance for his love for music.
Poor musician Alojzy Kędziorek is in love with Sagankiewicz's daughter Renata, who is reciprocated, but her family wants to marry her off to the wealthy butcher Baleron. Hipek, Alojzy's friend, sells his song to the theater director. The song becomes a huge hit. Alojzy is mistakenly locked up in a newly opened psychiatric hospital. He manages to escape. He goes to the theater where his song is being sung. He receives thunderous applause and an order for new songs. Renata's family agrees to her marriage to Kędziorek.
It is 1809, and the Austro-Polish War is raging. Returning from a reconnaissance mission, Lieutenant Andrzej Zadora and his squad of lancers stop for a rest in Serock, a small Galician town. They spend the night at the "Pod Gwiazdą" inn, where the innkeeper is the young and beautiful Kasia. A passionate feeling develops between the young people. Soon the soldiers leave, and Prince Józef Poniatowski, commander-in-chief of the army, who is in the area inspecting troops, arrives at the inn...
