Eleven disparate adolescents, gathered for a skiing camp at an isolated winter resort, find themselves preyed upon and set against one another by their three mysterious instructors.
Leo Popper is a happy family man living in rural Bohemia in the years preceding the Nazi invasion. Out of economic necessity he moves with his family to the big city and becomes an enterprising vacuum cleaner salesman. There he embarks on a series of adulterous adventures, has encounters with boxing pros and famous portrait artists, and schemes to purchase the perfect pond to fulfill his passion for fishing. When the Nazis gain control, the comedy turns sour - he loses his lake, his job, and finally, his family.
Viktor Mezek, a respected mentor to apprentices, invites his orphaned apprentice Laco for Christmas when his relationship with Hana falters. After the holidays, Laco is taunted over rumors of a homosexual relationship with Mezek and beats a fellow apprentice, risking expulsion, then disappears. Mezek searches the town, his son meanwhile visits and Hana shows them old home footage, until Viktor locates Laco hitchhiking and tries to stop him.
