The castle is preparing for the arrival of the princess who inherited the estate, the miller is in love with Hanička, as is the water sprite from the millrace, the teacher wants to complain to the authorities about his poverty, and the musician Klásek is running away from his wife. Seemingly everything is like something out of Jirásek. But that would be impossible if Josef Dvořák were playing the steward, the bailiff, the water sprite Michal, and Klásek. Hanička couldn't be missing parts of her underwear, the butler Franz couldn't have a suspicious fondness for his baroque outfit, and the princess (who got the estate back through restitution) shouldn't fall into unintentional (and unacted) fits of laughter.