Conscience is the story of an office executive who, returning home in his car after a riotous night, accidentally runs down and kills a small boy. Apparently unobserved he flees from the scene. Later he confesses his crime to his wife but although troubled by conscience he has not the strength of will to go to the police. Tormented by fear, his previously happy life is broken up. A girl, the only witness of the deed, begins to blackmail him and Dolezal gets involved in new difficulties. His twelve-year-old son, Jirka, who until recently idolised his father, discovers the crime and suffers from his discovery. Only when Dolezal realises that his son has learnt of his crime and that he despises; him for it, does he go to the police and give himself up.