This film, set at the beginning of the 17th century, is the first East-European "Eastern". Bocskai István orders the free Heyducks to shepherd a huge herd of cattle through the country torn to three parts, to the Dalmatian coast, where he can get weapons in exchange, for fighting the Austrians.
A village celebrates being granted the title of city. During the festivity an old, sick, beat down man shows up. No one seems to recognise him but he claims to be a villager that everyone thought had died in the war 30 years earlier.
The university student couple, Andris and Mari, cross Nemesbérc during their summer vacation, to hasten the laying of a memorial stone to the memory of András's martyr father.
Karesz's mother, a weaver who was widowed at an early age, is determined to raise her son to be a civil servant, but Karesz refuses to live up to expectations. First he drops out of high school, then of office work. He also becomes disillusioned with the masked world, and love does not complete his...