At the end of the last century hunters who hunted wild roosters, while waiting for prey to show up, were killing time with storytelling. The first story is about Jernac that had a fight with Tomas because of Rezika. Another story tells about Tincek, limp foundling, who spent his youth with the Komar family, where he fell in love with their Lencka. The third is the story of a rich Miholac whose attention was grabbed by poor Polonca, a romance that was opposed by his father. The central theme of all stories is love that eventually everybody die of.

A platonic romance between art student and nude model goes through many complications in which they both try to make one another jealous before revealing their true feelings.

When Peter comes back from the war, he finds his father changed and alone. Their former maid, Leni, has also left and soon Peter's grandfather also dies. His father begins writing his memoirs of his Partisan years. Peter blames his father for his mother's death, but the final blow comes when he catches his father together with his (Peter's) former girlfriend. He moves in with his brother and accuses Leni of having had an affair with his father. Peter decides to kill his father but cannot carry out the plan. His father tells him in a fit of rage that he isn't his son at all. Feeling desperate and down, he goes to Leni's place for comfort, and finds her dead on the floor. The police arrest Peter for the murder of Leni. Will Peter have to serve a jail sentence on his road to maturity and will political connections have a bearing on the final verdict of the trial? Peter doesn't even know whom he can trust anymore.

In 1940, shortly before the outbreak of war, a young boy Marjan lives a carefree life with his gang in Ljubljana, experiencing all the problems of his age. With Lenka he's experiencing his first "pure" love, while discovering sexuality... The Italian occupation brings many changes, gang breaks up, some join the liberation movement, the others join collaborationist forces. Marjan remain "unlisted". Italians surrender, and hand over the city to Germans. Frivolous Milena, who has good connections with them, seduces Marjan whom she lost her innocence with. The war is over and the partisans win. The new authorities mistakenly imprison Marjan.