Vojtěch's beloved Frantina is leaving for Prague to work. Vojtěch promises his dying mother that he will become a priest. His brother Karel is to inherit the mill. However, during the feast, he attacks the weak Josífek and then flees the village. He hides in a quarry with an unknown vagrant. While blasting a stone in the quarry, the vagrant dies, and Karel exchanges his documents for his own. Vojtěch is still thinking about Frantina in the seminary.