It is the mid 17th century. The Jesuits spread their influence in Central Europe. Maria, a young Countess lives in the castle. Father Had is a honest and ardent servant of the Society of Jesus. He is dedicated to his life's mission, and as such he is an ideal tool in the hands of his superiors, who have their own plans. Had becomes Maria's confessor. Her woman's charm, intelligence and energy, as well as her beauty, are a constant temptation to him. Jesuits are making pressure on Had to finally realize their plans. Will the Jesuits, at last, achieve their goals and take the castle?

The movie takes place in the early 18th century on the borders between Bosnia and Dalmatia, the crossroad between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. It deals with issues relating to the region's native Croats as they struggle between to live between two empires and two faiths: Catholicism and Islam.

Growing up on an isolated island off the coast of Croatia during the reign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, young Serafin Skoko's formative years were as repressive as they were lonely.

While expecting their child, a student couple announce to their parents that they will marry. Both sets of parents are against it, but when the proposal takes place, the things take unexpected turn.

A young man flees to the United States searching for the American dream.

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.

Next to a small Dalmatian town of Murvice oil was found, and politicians make a hasty decision to build a tanker port, although there is no oil in the quantities required for exploitation. Urged by his ambitious wife, the engineer Slobodan Despot becomes director of the port construction, which his wife's lover skillfully exploits to use Despot as scapegoat. The construction of unprofitable airport gradually destroys the patriarchal structure of Murvice, as well as Despot's personal life and ideals, which he tried to restore by having affair with the young and unspoiled girl.

During World War II, a brave, patriotic American Soldier undergoes experiments to become a new supersoldier, "Captain America". Racing to Germany to sabotage the rockets of Nazi baddie "Red Skull", Captain America winds up frozen until the 1990s. He reawakens to find that the Red Skull has changed identities and is now planning to kidnap the President of the United States.

After her husband's death in Germany, an attractive young widow leaves his native village in Herzegovina to work abroad. There she starts an affair with an Italian worker that proves to be unsuccessful, yet she gets pregnant. She does an abortion, which is followed by another blow - her godfather Luka steals her hard-earned money.

A journalist investigates the smuggling of gypsy children on the black market and tries to save a young boy.

In 1985, four middle-aged Yugoslav emigres return to Belgrade for the funeral of Mariana, their beautiful compatriot. They called her Esther, for Esther Williams, she was the coxswain for their four-man rowing team, and they each loved her. They'd last seen her in 1953, when they rowed her across the Adriatic, pregnant, to join her exiled father in Italy. In flashbacks we learn the story of their youthful baptism into sex, smoking, rock and roll (Hey Ba-ba-re-bop), Hollywood and Swedish films, blue jeans on the black market, and their rivalry with Ristic, the Communist Party youth leader for whom they had instant antipathy.