Zagreb in 1942. The police blocks on of the houses while looking for one of the communist officials hiding in the apartment of young female illegal fighter. Them two manage to escape, however police kills her husband. In the house, her small baby is left, which police wants to use as a bait so they could catch them. Children who live in the neighborhood steal the baby, upon which the police starts thorough search of the house.

Determined to find her sister's killers, Ida Palamar decides to become a prostitute in an elite Zagreb brothel where the murder probably took place. The brothel is run by Vuk, violent and drug-crazed arms smuggler, protected by the police. Ida's only ally in her quest is a young bouncer.

Protagonist of the film is Melita Zganjer, woman who desperately tries to lose weight. This proves to be very difficult because she works in a pastry shop. Unlike her man-eating roommate Visnja, she only dreams about love and spends all her free time watching South American soap opera "Slave of Love". The man of his dreams is much closer than she thinks, though. Janko, young man who delivers pastry, loves Melita but is too shy to express his feelings. In the meantime, Eva, policewoman and another of Melita's roommates, tries to set her up with one of her colleagues. Those efforts fail, but Melita's dreams seems to come true with Antonio Mulero, "Slave of Love" star who arrived to Zagreb to shoot a feature film.