Dezső Kosztolányi

The film is put at the beginning of the century in Sárszeg, following the humiliation and collapse of a high-school teacher.

Middle-aged writer (Kornél Esti) travels to Germany to deliver a lecture. During the long journey he recalls the memories of an other journey he made thirty years ago.

Lovely young maid Anna works for the noble Vizy family. Mrs Vizy, while proud of the hard-working servant, doesn't treat her well. Her nephew seduces Anna with sweet words, but abandons her as soon as she gets pregnant.

Sweet Anna is sent as a maid to the Vizys immediately after the fall of the revolution in 1919. Since the death of her daughter, Mrs. Vizyné has devoted all her emotions and energy to the "education" of the servants. Anna is sometimes pampered, sometimes humiliated. Her nephew Jancsika seduces the young girl, who wastes all her repressed love on him. Jancsika leaves him, and when Anna wants to leave the Vizys, Vizyné, in a fit of hysteria, blackmails her and holds her back. The morning after a house party, Anna murders her hosts.

Based on a novel by Dezso Kosztolani, this Hungarian drama is set at the turn of the 20th century. A young, homely woman lives at home with her mother and retired father. Because of all the care the girl provides for her parents, the couple becomes detached from the world outside their home. When the girl leaves for a short visit to her uncle's home, the parents realize the extent of their separation from society and their selfish feelings toward their own daughter.

Skylark/Pacsirta, a woman doomed to become a spinster, is away for a week, which brings unexpected liberation and happiness to her parents who can no longer disregard the tragedy of their whole life.