Eleven years old Jacob does not know his Father. His picture is portrayed and idealized by his Mother and his own phantasy. Jacob is an uncontrollable and slightly asocial guy, who is lacking a male role model. He grows up among females- Mother, stepsister Pauline and Grandmother. Grandmother arrives to their small panel block building apartment at beginning of the Story. Jacob's resentment (a runaway escape through foggy neighborhood of concrete block buildings) is his way to finding out what' going on. It is his first disappointment, but also a first step of growing up. tease him. Mother has her hands full with the household and barely makes it. She does not have time to care about her children 's feelings. Money is tight. Among his schoolmates Jacob is considered poor and that bothers him as well.

The congenial Vojta is bashful and his family is batty. His short-tempered father, who once failed to swim the English Channel, wants him to be a competing swimmer and his loving mother, a former child ice revue star, sees a talented pianist in her son. But Vojta has completely different priorities - most of all his red-haired classmate Ela, an enchanting synchronized swimmer who is leaving for Paris in November. If Vojta doesn't do something radical, and fast, Ela will disappear behind the Iron Curtain forever. The year is 1989.

In this character study by Czech director Frantisek Vlacil, a stout middle-aged physician whose marriage has come apart establishes a practice in a small town. Gradually he's drawn into the lives of his patients—a childless couple, a pregnant girl with a stern mother, the son of a duck farmer—and each relationship reveals a bit more about him and the idyllic but insular community.

Martina is 18, loves dancing and goes by a nick name Shakira. Also, today she is leaving an orphanage...