A gloomy tale about a king whose pride robbed him of love, friends and power. A cruel curse is at the beginning of the story of this fairy tale based on an old Irish legend. Until the king's newly born son raises his sword against his father, there will be no spring in the Hawk Kingdom. Although the king orders the counselor Ordon to kill the child, the nurse saves him and entrusts the child to the care of a bird. He names him Christopher and raises him together with his son Janko. Twenty years later, the king succumbs to Ordon's urging to war with the neighbouring King Ubald. It is in this war that the curse is fulfilled and the tragic fate of the new king, who cannot listen to the right mouth, begins to unfold.

Elementary school student Jožka has a great love – horses. He is looking forward to turning this love into a profession. However, he is atoning for his father's criminal activities, he is not accepted into his dream school focused on horse breeding due to a bad report and has to be content with learning to be a tractor driver. However, he continues to do his best for horses, he trains the racehorse Palisander, who has never won. His outsider fate is similar to his. However, Jožka wins everything there is to win despite various ups and downs – he stands up to bullying in the youth home, an arrogant tutor, human weaklings, manages to study well even at a school that he doesn't enjoy and does sports. He also gains the respect of his classmates. Real jockeys also star in the film. It also features the birth and death of a horse. The scene where Jožka's father saves a horse from a burning truck is dramatic. The scenes with carrier pigeons are touching.