安布鲁斯年过三十，是一名医生，他思索着他的过往人生不过是一场政治设计，他也许永远也成为不了出色的职业医生。一次偶然，他目睹了一位耄耋之年的教授拯救了一位病人，而他此前还质疑过这位老教授的资质。他不由地开始反思自身。之后，老教授的垮台更使他陷入了精神危机。这时，老父亲病危，安布鲁斯不得不回家探望，在经历了多重思想震荡后，他回到家乡重新审视与家人、朋友的关系。本片是杨索的第二部作品，他标志性的长镜头调度还未成气候，但也能窥见他的诗意风格雏形。

Set during a turbulent era of disquiet, fear, persecution and terror, which permeates every corner of post-WWI Hungarian society. In 1919, after just a few months of communist rule the Hungarian Republic of Councils falls victim to a nationalist counter-revolution. Admiral Horthy, leader of the nationalist far right movement, becomes the self-proclaimed regent of Hungary, and assumes power as the legal Head of State. Soldiers of the short-lived Hungarian Red Army are now on the run from relentless secret policemen and patrol units of the nationalist Royal Gendarme. If caught, ex-Red Army soldiers are executed without mercy or proper trial. István Cserzi, a former soldier of the Red Army has fled to the Great Hungarian Plains and has taken refuge on a farm, which is run by two sympathetic women. Due to the generosity of these women and a former childhood pal...

After the failure of the Kossuth's revolution of 1848, people suspected of supporting the revolution are sent to prison camps. Years later, partisans led by outlaw Sándor Rózsa still run rampant. Although the authorities do not know the identities of the partisans, they round up suspects and try to root them out by any means necessary.