Under a police pursuit, Pavle tries to transfer a group of illegals on a free liberated territory. Pavle hopes to find a hideaway at an old friend Stevan, but these expectations fail. However, help unexpectedly comes from Stevan's little son Aca.

Set just before the end of WWI on the abandoned farm in Vojvodina, the story follows the wife of an Austo-Hungarian colonel of a battered battalion who pays him a visit, only to experience the true Empire's decline through the meeting with disillusioned army.

Bad weather, farmers who do not allow the dumping of their estate, and people who are willing to sabotage for ideological reasons, disrupt the building of hydro-power on the Neretva river. Upon completion of construction, the benefits of electricity assures people of the necessity of progress.