A young veterinarian, Jiří Klimeš, returns to his native village after graduation.

At the funeral of his schoolmate, the nearly-fifty-year old architect Jirí Mánek (Václav Voska) meets his former close acquaintance - physician Jarmila (Blanka Bohdanová). They both are still single. Jarmila has recently returned to Prague after years of work on the frontier. Jirí leaves for a business trip. As a conservationist, he is to grant permission for an adaptation of a Baroque château to office spaces. On the road, a pretty young hitchhiker named Eva (Ida Rapaicová) stops him. Eva is Slovak and her spontaneous behavior enchants Jirí. He thus does not mind making a short detour and takes Eva all the way to the luxurious cottage of her parents. A romance develops between the two people, so different in age and temperament.

The Prague Research Institute of Air Engineering is to prepare a proposal to reduce dust in Ostrava, especially in the area where the new power plant is to be built. That is why engineers Vojtěch Spára and Jiří Zástěra will travel to Ostrava. Eva Frágnerová, a hygienist, will strongly oppose the power plant project near the housing estate.

During the Second World War, an old fortress is transformed into a detention camp for arrested allied generals who the Germans provide with every possible comfort. In the nearby garrison camp, however, hundreds of captured private soldiers try to survive hunger and cold.