Set in Prague during the years leading up to World War II, this family saga tells the story of a cobbler named Vincenc Bursik (Vladimir Mensik), who uproots his clan from the country to the city, only to suffer the loss of his wife and the failure of his shoe business within months. When his daughter moves away to go live with a wealthy businessman as his mistress, Vincenc is left to take care of his two sons, who spend their days in a secret garden vying for the affections of a teenage girl.

Placek (Josef Kemr), the head of research in a chemical plant, appreciates the help of his younger colleague Bernát (Alois Svehlík) in the creation of a new synthetic material.

The parents of twins Petr and Pavel are leaving for Afghanistan to build a dam. They entrust their offspring to their uncle Podlipný in Gottwaldov. The boys soon make friends with their new classmates. They are a little envious of their uncle, the pilot, because almost the entire class is interested in airplanes and attends a model-making club. Here, under the guidance of instructor Dáša, they build a model of an OK 12 airplane, with which they want to participate in a competition. The children assume that both Prague boys are also good at model-making. Petr and Pavel are ashamed to admit that they know nothing about this activity. To save their reputation, they decide to secretly learn it themselves.

Even under socialism, which proclaimed the equality of all people, there were status differences. A young bricklayer, who has fallen in love with a college girl from a "better" family, feels this first-hand - the girl's petty bourgeois parents are fundamentally opposed to an unequal relationship from their point of view. In protest, the young lovers decide to live in a tent for the time being and go straight to the park. The surprisingly clueless director Ladislav Rychman has tried to merge disco songs with a tame satire on modern-day rich people.

Thieves Svarc and Cihák are interrupted in their robbery of a jeweler's store. In order to disappear as quickly as possible, they jump into the nearest car and leave, finding on the way that a little boy named Jirka, son of the car's owner, is with them. They take him to a cottage where Cihák's eighteen-year old daughter Milena attends to him. Jirka first treats Milena with hostility, but as days pass, the "prisoner" and the "guard" become close. Milena cooks for the boy and takes care of him, but nothing can intimidate the dauntless Jirka and he seeks for the first opportunity to escape.