For Katrina. Musicians in a small street carnival in Prague decide to band together and journey to Budapest, where they hope to make a better living performing on the sidewalks outside of the opera houses. Following the course of the Danube, they meet simple folk along their way, and invite their new friends to join the troupe. When they arrive in Budapest, war is imminent; musicians are being forced to leave the symphonies and opera houses, to join the soldiers as they march to the front. The Prague musicians become enveloped by the throng, losing sight of one another as the masses march off to war.