The novel follows the titular protagonist, a Slovak peasant, and his difficult fate between the 19th and 20th centuries. Born out of wedlock and bullied by his brother as a child, he goes off to fight in World War I, and when he returns home, he finds that his brother has married his childhood sweetheart. He then marries Jula, his brother’s wife’s maidservant, and later finds out that his brother also cheated on his wife with Jula.