A Midsummer Night’s Story

The veteran soldier Martin returns home after his twelve-year military service. On his way, he stops in a small Valachian village ruled by an unscrupulous and stingy bailiff. The villagers' terror is the bailiff's book of debtors. Martin witnesses the bailiff, helped by a catchpole, taking a cow away from the widower Kryštof just because of few pennies. Jura and Juříček must still serve the bailiff, even though they worked their debt off a long time ago. The bailiff even cheated on his stepbrother Štěpán who thus cannot marry his beloved Anička - he refused to pay him his share of the inheritance from their mother. Anička's mother, too, runs into debt with the bailiff, and Anička must therefore be at his service. Martin decides to help the villagers. The bailiff is afraid of him because he spotted his head in the window and thought that he was being observed by a devil. Strange things begin to happen in the village. The catchpole is hit by shingles that fall down from a roof, somebody steals the milk from Kryštof's former cow… The bailiff appeals to a parish priest who, in turn, bans bonfires on the St John´s holiday. Martin visits the bailiff claiming to be able to make soup solely from a hatchet. The miserly bailiff is eager to know the cheap recipe and doesn´t realize that he is actually bringing Martin things to help him make it - sausage, potatoes and other food. Jura and Juříček disguise themselves as devils to scare the bailiff. Meanwhile, supplies keep disappearing from the bailiff's pantry. As soon as the skinflint tries to save something, a hatch slumps under his feet and he disappears. Martin offers soup to the villagers returning from the mountain where they lit the St John's fires despite the ban. Štěpán distributes his brother's stolen money to the villagers, he burns the book of debtors and happily weds his Anička. The local blacksmith offers Martin work in his forge but the soldier's desire for home is stronger and wins.