The play begins in the sitting room of a family home belonging to Captain Adolf, an officer in the cavalry. The Captain is married to a woman named Laura and they have a daughter named Bertha. The Captain calls for an orderly and tells the man to send in Nojd, a wayward young man who has been "cutting up with the servant-girl again" (13). Emma, the servant, is now pregnant. The Captain has tried punishing Nojd in the past in vain, so now he brings in his brother-in-law, a pastor, as a new disciplinary method. 

Nojd defends himself by claiming that Emma led him astray. He has no idea whether he is the father of the girl's child. The pastor encourages Nojd to support the baby, but he does not see why a person should be "slaving all your life for another man's child" (14). After Nojd exits, the pastor admits that he feels sorry for Nojd, whose entire life may be ruined if he is dismissed from the Captain's military unit. The Captain agrees to leave the issue to the courts.