Slovakia, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. The family of the young Jewish Martin Friedmann gathers to celebrate his bar mitzvah and make a solemn promise that they will all meet again a year later around the same table; but the storms of war and anti-Semitic fanaticism will lead each of them down very different paths.

The film shows the fate of a person who, in his brave work, ordinary efforts, after a bit of luck, encountered misunderstanding, selfishness, careerism and cowardice. It is a rallying cry for the unequal struggle for civil honor amid the contrast between the official and real hierarchy of the scientific workplace. The protagonist has only one choice. To come to terms with the world he lives in or to rebel against it.

Majka "Chatterbox" is a girl entering adolescence. She was born with a minor disability. While her mother keeps scolding her for the way she walks, her classmates mock her and call her a "duck". Along an innocent first love affair and a secret friendship, she receives little understanding from her parents and lots of malice from her schoolmates. Majka finds refuge with her grandmother and in her own fantasy world. Director Peter Solan made a sensitive portrait of a twelve year-old schoolgirl. The eloquent film language talks to child and adult audiences alike.

Vlado, an intelligent boy living in a small village, has fantasies that take him away from his humdrum life. But as the Nazi occupation begins to encroach on the townsfolk his fantasies and reality begin to merge.