Autumn 1988. Renata is studying journalism. She lives with her jealous boyfriend Standa, whom she occasionally cheats on. She edits the school magazine and is perhaps a little more daring than the others, mainly because she doesn't want to be the daughter of her father, a bigwig at the Ministry of the Interior. But the situation is getting out of her hands—Renata's anti-regime mini-activities and her romance with dissident Holý are getting the attention of the STB. Her dad is worried about his career and maybe even convinced that he should disinherit her. Her relationship with Standa is getting complicated.

51-year-old Herbert Strehlow, a furniture restorer, falls in love with 21-year-old Lea, who has not spoken a word since childhood when her father killed her mother. She bears a striking resemblance to Herbert's dead wife. They get married, but their relationship seems doomed, until gradually each one manages to penetrate the mysterious world of the other, and they begin to realize that they are bound by a kind of spiritual relationship. For Lea it is the death of her mother, for Herbert it is the death of his first wife. His hard exterior slowly beings to thaw, and he starts to show feelings and responses that soften Lea's initial hatred and fear of him, and which put their relationship in a more positive light.