In the aftermath of war, two men and a woman begin acting more like children than adults, leading to tragedy.
Concentration camp commander Kraft finds out that prisoner Kominek is a former professional boxer. Overnight, the prisoner is made Kraft's exercise partner and unwillingly rises to a privileged position at the camp. His anger over the death of his friend and co-prisoner leads to open revolt. The film brings a new view of human degradation during fascism by a tragic story of one man whose only chance for survival is to accept the rules of an unequal game.
A classical ballad motif about an aging father and his three daughters is quite unusually here set against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia of the 1950s. After having been expropriated, the former landowner Majda seeks refuge with his three daughters whom he had sent to a convent a long time ago. But only the youngest one is able to forgive him and she is willing to take care of him despite the threat of expulsion from the order.
