Joy abounds in the little workers’ home when the three daughters of the family all come home wearing an engagement ring. When the sons-in-law come to visit, one in particular stands out. The merchant Black is wealthy and wears fine clothes, but the labourer family is quite unimpressed by that. They tease him for his airs and graces, eventually prompting him to take his fiancée by the hand and hurry out of the – in his eyes – wretched home. As time goes on, however, it turns out that pride comes before a fall.