Veronika

It is a winter day of 1854 and Veronika Pavlitová waits for Emperor Franz Joseph I's procession for hours in order to throw a humble plea for the release of her father - a political prisoner - into the emperor's brougham. After the death of her mother, the girl tends to her four younger siblings in desperate conditions. She is arrested by the police but is released after providing an explanation. She falls severely ill and a patriotic physician Lambl restores her to health. He moreover introduces the literarily gifted Veronika to her idol - Božena Němcová, an excellent writer but also a personality who is rather inconsistently accepted by the society. This is also why Němcová is followed by the secret police. The police director Paümann makes use of the naive Veronika - he promises her some earnings as a home Czech teacher of his sons and even assures her about her father's release from prison. He then talks with the girl in a seemingly friendly way and the girl also mentions the people visiting Němcová and what they discuss. She betrays the pseudonyms under which the banned Bohemian journalists publish their articles. When Veronika realizes what she has done, it is too late. Paümann blackmails her, eventually forcing her to become an informer. Němcová is left by her lover Jurenka and her marrital crisis is completed. The unhappy woman begins writing her most famous novel, The Grandmother - a book of lyrical memories of her childhood. Veronika falls fatally ill with tuberculosis and her qualms seriously deteriorate her condition. Lambl's sister takes Pavlita's children to her village. Veronika dies even before managing to confess her betrayal to Němcová.