Three friends - Tomás, Hubert and Jozka - are boys growing up in a little town. Tomás lives with his aunt Apolena and uncle Václav. Tomás is a boy with lots of ideas that often end up getting him into trouble not only with his teachers and aunt, but with the other inhabitants of the town as well. He has a crush on his schoolmate Blanka and for her sake he decides to try to get the prize for the best pupil in the school.
In the frontier village Vetrov boys from the children's home called Indians lead a bitter "war" with the local Símáks. Before a battle the Indians have a meeting in the sandpit with a smoke signaling. The smoke brings to the sandpit a frontier guard Tomás with a police dog Ranek. The children learn from Tomás that Rank served out and that it shall be destroyed. The nine-year old Fanda writes a letter to the "minister of the frontier guards" in which he asks to let Ranek live. To save Ranek's life he also visits the local frontier guard commander. In the end it is decided that children from the children's home may keep Ranek.
Alex Godman, the English-raised son of Russian mafia exiles, has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of their past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca. But when a murder forces his family's past to return to threaten them, Alex is drawn into the criminal underworld and must confront his values to protect those he loves.
