Many children live in a poor cottage, the oldest of whom is Ondra. The cottage can no longer support them all, so the father sends his son out into the world to learn a trade. On his journey, Ondra meets an old man, to whom he offers his last bun. The mysterious old man advises him on which path to take and also gives the boy a gift. On his journey, Ondra meets many people and proves his cleverness in each encounter. When he arrives in the city, he looks around the shops and thinks about which trade he could learn. He chooses a goldsmith. He is accepted and is so skilled that his master allows him to make jewelry for the princess, with whom Ondra falls in love. The princess is mute, but clever Ondra is sure to find a way to deal with that.

In a veterinary research institute, its workers are trying to deal with the sudden appearance of rabies. However, the work problem grows into a personal issue for each of them, especially for MVDr. Eva Krausová. Up until this point, Eva had lived the most ordinary life. A single mother in her forties, employed at the institute in a job that had already become routine; one day a week spent with a boyfriend – without any claim to any shared perspective; short holidays with a family in the countryside with a child, who is looked after by Eva's mother during the year. A woman who has not made it very far. Until one day, chance presents her with an opportunity that she has subconsciously been waiting for since her youth and forgotten about for years. But now, at forty?

Set in World War 2 as the Germans occupy Czechoslovakia, teenage Emilka's father is murdered by the Nazis, but she is selected for special treatment by virtue of being blonde. She is billeted with the commandant of a concentration camp near the Baltic coast, where his kindness towards her provokes his wife's jealousy, but is compromised when Emilka witnesses his brutality towards the prisoners.

This downbeat, grim drama about three brothers who are reunited at their mother's funeral is actually visually as dark as its story, making it difficult at times to clearly distinguish a scene. These brothers are not particularly exceptional as people go, but at least they have branched out into separate vocations in their lives. One brother is a doctor, another is a criminal, and the third is a bus driver. Like others in Europe, they suffered through World War II, yet no matter what their backgrounds and experiences, their interpersonal relationships are not exactly gripping drama.