El prestigioso director Milos Forman rueda esta historia sobre la fiesta de cumpleaños de un veterano bombero.
La película nos lleva a la Hungría de los años posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y en la que la sombra comunista es una realidad, que no dejará en paz a los habitantes de este país. En este contexto la película nos presenta a dos mujeres que no pueden ser más diferentes entre sí. La primera es una intelectual que se dedica a escribir y de mediana edad, mientras que la segunda es una mujer mayor que se ha criado en contacto con la naturaleza, y que entra a trabajar como ama de llaves de la primera. Ambas discuten muy a menudo, puesto que al ser tan distintas, la una intenta influir en la vida de la otra y viceversa, intentos que siempre acaban con sonoras riñas, aunque su relación laboral no se ve afectada. El ama de llaves es una mujer muy enigmática, puesto que no quiere que nadie vaya a su casa, y en el caso de que alguien se acerque nunca les permite pasar de la puerta. Poco a poco, nos daremos cuenta de que esconde un secreto terrible.
Sanda spends all her time working in a plastic factory, raising her two small children and catering to an indifferent husband, leaving little room for herself. A chance encounter with another man may offer her an escape from her daily chores.
A new teacher - Marina - arrives in a small Pomak village in the late 1960s. She is a woman trying to live and think independently. Marina finds herself in a world unknown to her, at once pure and immaculate, but with the signs of the deformation of natural life that is typical of the whole country. After meeting the Doctor, Bai Mnogoznai, Mariana, the mayor, the internationalist Yosko, she discovers that each resists authority in their own way. And when the government starts changing the non-Bulgarian names of the Pomak villagers, the heroine realizes she is in a prison - with high mountains, forests, rivers - a prison of tragic beauty.
The story of what daily life was like in Poland under communism: private conversations, cruel interrogations, recruitment attempts, recorded and filmed with hidden devices; of how the secret services spied on every activity of ordinary citizens: nothing escaped the brutal system of control developed by the Soviets in the name of freedom.
Makar has spent years overseeing work at a collective farm. After he is asked to retire, it is time for Makar's son to take the reins. Yet the farm workers' hopes are soon dashed, and it is up to Makar to right the ship.
After serving his military duty, Simo returns to his hometown. All day he rides his favourite horse Vihar and looks after the horses in the farm. Banov, the chairman of the cooperative farm, doesn't like Simo and wants to get rid of the horses, but Simo will not let this happen.