The protagonist, Béla Hackspacher, works as a forklift-truck driver. He lives in a small flat with his wife Irén, his two children, his mother-in-law, and a tenant, Rózsika, who aspires to become a pop singer.
At a cultural event organised for the tenants he finds out that he has 12 scores on the Football Pools. The great day, 23 October 1956, arrives for Béla; it is the day on which he will be presented with his winnings. In order to take the bag full of money to the bank he gets into a Pobeda with two men from the state security bureau, but the car is suddenly surrounded by a crowd of demonstrators who �ree�him from the �ands�of the state security men. It is then that the black sheep of the family, Pista, appears and pesuades Béla to exchange the money for gold and foreign currency. They set off, but before reaching the usurer Pista is mortally wounded by a stray bullet. Béla goes home, where he learns from Rózsika that Irén went to her home village with the two children and his mother-in-law. Our hero is shocked, and takes up residence in the nearby pub. He has Gipsies brought to the pub, and invites everyone to be his guests. Everybody who passes by takes the opportunity to enjoy themselves: acquaintances, friends, tenants, revolutionaries, or even those taking pains to stay out of the revolution. Under the pressure of the events Béla goes through a complete transformation: from a confused petty bourgeois he turns into a wise and generous host. When the Soviet troupes return to the town, everyone leaves. The loving couple are also about to leave, but Rózsika wants to have a last look around to say farewell to the place. While Béla is waiting outside a Soviet tank shoots the pub apart. Béla survives, but afterwards has to answer the unpleasant questions of the victors, who are so shocked by the fact that Béla had won and lost such a vast amount of money that he is put back in his original position at his workplace �he is again a forklift driver.