Mihaly Kolhaas, a peaceful, law-abiding, God-believing citizen of the Principality of Dresden, trades horses and lives in peace and happiness on his estate with his wife, their son, and his nurse. He and Nagelsmith, though their political principles differ, are great friends and he can always count on his patronage. One day Mihaly, unfairly harmed, experiences a violation of the law on his own, caused by the baron of Tronka. Kolhaas tries to offend him by the path of law and justice, but he accidentally loses his wife on her mission to be his messenger. This makes him change the principles of indignity and pain, and he follows only one law: his own law, with help from his armed friends.
—mrtanaka