The orphan Eliška Irovská, nicknamed Líza, arrives in her native village of Ptačice. As an orphan she is housed in the local poorhouse and has to go out begging. Her guardian Petr Tumlíř, however, sees that she is competent enough to go to school.
On the coast of Yugoslavia lives fisherman Ivo Kralj, his wife Marie, son Vuk, and Ivo's mother in one happy home. Marie, who loves her husband and always looks forward to his return from sea, attracts Nikola, with whom Ivo, out of jealousy, has a scuffle at a dance. After the outbreak of World War...
Woman concert star seeks to connect with her adult daughter, by her former marriage to a staid industrialist who has kept the two apart since the girl was very small, and receives inadvertent help from the industrialist's just-fired employee who has fallen in love with the girl.