Just after the end of the war, in May 1945, Lieutenant Mares returned to Prague with his unit. He looks forward to seeing his family, fiancee and friends. Gradually he learns that his fiancee is already married, his mother and sister have been arrested and shot, and his former friends are dead or have disappeared in the maelstrom of war. He finds only the old professor Blazej, who has not left his basement apartment for five years to avoid meeting the Germans.—EuroFan