This two-part production follows the lives of three generations of women from the Jablonczay family at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first part begins in 1882 and focuses on the two older generations. The eldest, Maria (Emília Vášáryová), lives in a dead relationship with her husband Kálmán (Milan Kněžko). She is the mother of a son and three daughters, each of whom tries to cope with her despotic nature in different ways. In the second part, the youngest, third generation of characters enters the scene. Lenka (Zuzana Vačková) is first educated in a convent with the kind approach of the mother superior (Magda Vášáryová) and slowly gets to know the real world outside the convent and her strict family environment. The play is based on the novel by Hungarian prose writer Magda Szabó, originally titled "An Old-Fashioned Story," in which the author describes the family life of her own ancestors.

Each of the four short stories, framed by the figure of the photographer, depicts the lives of women and girls whose work has brought them to the limelight, but also marked their relationships with those closest to them.

A retired soldier, Martin, is returning home after twelve years of service. On the way, he stops in a small Wallachian village, which is ruled by a stingy and ruthless fojt with the help of a sycophantic scoundrel and the local priest. Martin witnesses how he takes the only cow from the widower Kryštof and his five children for a few pennies, how he denies payment of the debt to Jura and Juříček, who then force them to work in his forest for free, how he denies his share of the inheritance to his brother Štěpán, who is in love with the charming Anička. Martin does not want to let all this go by so he decides to help the villagers and punish the fojt. Soon, strange things start happening in the village and the fojt is increasingly afraid that the devil is behind everything. In his place, Martin appears with a cunning plan, the main part of which is a recipe for axe soup.

Premature motherhood causes serious emotional and psychological problems; the young mother, deceived in her first, still naive love, thinks that she has not yet enjoyed anything and already has to take care of the baby. Even finishing high school becomes a big problem, which requires a lot of self-sacrifice.

While parents help blacks in Africa, their children learn to be independent. The youngest is left in the care of the eldest. But who has to listen to whom is a big question, it is not clear who will screw up more. And when the parents come back, the grandchildren will follow.

A dramatic love story in the front line.