The place: a tavern/restaurant called the Old Vienna, on Király Street in the Sixth District of Budapest, the time: a winter afternoon in the early 's, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
At another table sit three mysterious foreign visitors, the „Prince”, the „General”, and the „King”.
The proprietors, Mrs and Mr Weisz, do their best to accommodate these guests. A rooster is hypnotized by the Captain, a Porter fetches a bottle of kosher brandy, an insolent Barber is ostracized by the assembled company, and an itinerant Vendor is relieved of his wares. Nothing much happens, and everything happens: The World Goes On… Krúdy's art consists of observing, noting, and annotating these seemingly trivial occurrences, and arranging them into a composition that compares in scope and texture the corresponding chapters of Joyce's Ulysses.