1958. In the cell of the condemned, seven men await the signs of an approaching execution. All of them recall their pasts and envision their wish-dreams.

In the small village of Rátót, every male is called Béla. When a woman gives birth to her child, she names him Józsi...

Balog Mihály, the Gypsy man from Szabolcs works in Budapest. That is where he is notified that his young wife died. Again he behaves differently from his fellow-men in the Koportos Gypsy settlement: he wants to give a beautiful, rich burial ceremony to his wife.

This Hungarian film chronicles the slow deterioration in the life of Juli, a farmer's wife. As the countryside grows ever more deserted because people are moving to towns or large collective farms, she spends more and more time alone. Despite her best efforts to appreciate her situation, her despair grows. The loneliness is briefly interrupted when she and her husband take in an old woman and care for her, but the woman dies. Shortly after her son visits, she is killed in an accident which may have been a suicide. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A young man with an interest in ornithology arrives to study the work of falcons and their human trainers. The head falconer is a cold and heartless man who obstinately demands perfection from everyone around him. His work is his life, and he doesn't care if his girlfriend makes love to other men. The young man observes all he can before leaving behind the potentially inhuman situation for brighter horizons.

October, 1956. Colonel lieutenant Szabó sends a platoon with the mission of calming the people demonstrating in the town. The platoon is lined up under the command of Lieutenant Csendes and the soldiers aim at the demonstrators. Szusza Kis changes sides, and Csendes is unable to shoot at his childhood mate. They withdraw.