In the square in a small, idyllic market town is the bank, and its manager, Anders B. Schmidt, is very ill at the city hospital. At the beginning of the story, he sleeps quietly. In the affluent district of the market town, we find the bank manager's villa, which has been his pride for many years. He leaves behind a deeply grieving widow and four grown children. It soon turns out that the esteemed citizen had a love affair before he got married, and it arouses indignation.