Inauguration of the 29th edition of the Bydgoszcz Opera Festival.

The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story on the comedy L'attaché d'ambassade (The Embassy's Attaché) by Henri Meilhac. This well-known operetta has enjoyed international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna.

Hanna Glawari is a wealthy young widow from a small and poverty-stricken Balkan province of Pontevedro. Ambassador Baron Zeta is anxious that when Hanna re-marries, she will surely have to marry a Pontevedrian, not a Frenchman, to save his beloved Pontevedro from a devastating ruin by keeping all her money inside the country. Baron makes this mission his life's priority, so the obvious choice is Count Daniło, but there is a problem... They are ex-lovers, and Daniło is too proud to marry her for her money.

Misunderstandings and intrigues abound, when it transpires that Walentyna, Zeta's wife, is having an affair with piquant Frenchman, Count Camille de Rosillon. Hanna steps in to save the married lady’s reputation. But how will this story end?