Tragedy doesn’t come any more Dickensian in tone or Shakespearian in scope than this dark social drama of the disintegration of a little family of four. A series of small debts triggers the swift domino effect that unleashes chaos on a well-meaning working class dad who has the bad judgment to speak truth to power.
Peter is fed up with his father’s unfulfilled promises to visit his friend Zoran, who moved far away with his parents some months ago. He forces his father to sear he will fulfill his promise. Peter immediately tells his friend the good news, and because Zoran doesn’t believe they will really come, Peter swears he will come if he has to do it alone. The next day, Peter’s father postpones the visit once again and rushes to work. But Peter doesn’t want to break his promise and sets off to visit his friend alone. Peter’s younger sister Petra attempts to reveal what is right and what isn’t in the events that follow - and when she finds the solution - it’s a surprise for everyone.
A young boy is on vacation at the beach with his family. He becomes bored and wanders onto the set of a television production about pirates aboard a ship.
The film is a portrait of the Novak family: the results of the marriage between the farmer Novak and a townswoman of German descent, their children and their tragic fates and the life of Andrej - the Novaks' only surviving child. Andrej recalls the days of his youth and the wartime years, in which the family slowly breaks up due to different political beliefs and world-outlooks. In addition to the loss of many members of his family, Andrej must also face the fact that his father has disowned him and his girlfriend left him. Despite all, however, he keeps alive his hopes of a better future, which, to him, is embodied by the beautiful Iza.