Sandor Monori thinks that he can buy everything with his gold. The story takes place after the World War II at the famous Teleki ter where he is the King of the market.

The story takes place in the urban districts of Pest focusing on the marketplace on Teleki square (which was still existing mostly unchanged when the movie was made) from after the end of World War II in 1945 until the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The main character is the head of the black market in Budapest. He thinks he can buy everyone and everything but at the end he must face that he can't buy life.