Italian director Giuseppe DeSantis was the creative force behind this Yugoslavian "slice of life" drama. The title translates as The Year-Long Road and, accordingly, the plot concerns a voluntary joint effort to construct a highway. Naturally, this animosity wreaks havoc on the various Romeo-Juliet romances in the region.

Engineer and leftist illegal Neven Novak runs away from a train in which Ustashas transport their prisoners to the prison camp Jasenovac. He returns to Zagreb and tries to save his son Zoran from an orphanage. During his stay in the orphanage, Zoran was indoctrinated with fascist ideology. When he realizes that his father is an enemy of the regime, he refuses to escape with Zoran to the Partisans' territory. Novak faces his son's antagonism and the police that chase after them.