After surviving a deadly attack, a guard on the Soviet-Chinese border decides to become a monk but must continually prove along the way that he's capable of becoming the enlightened man he set out to be.

Olev Virkus is a completely ordinary man of no considerable wealth or achievements. Sometimes, however, he has to drop everything he's doing and go away for a while. Only then can he keep on living in peace. The film is based on the short story The King by Mehis Heinsaar.

The main character, Helmi, is born into the house of Baron von Strandmann in Old-Town Tallinn, in 1908. The only thing that she knows for sure about her past is that her mother was an Estonian servant girl. Everything else is a discovery during a life that runs the course of a century - a life that has quite a lot of surprises in store for Helmi. In this house she finds happiness and suffering, passion and disappointment. She grows up alongside young Erik and waits for her big love to blossom. But one floor down lives projectionist Julius - a man who is far from indifferent when it comes to Helmi. All of the biggest historical events of the century leave their mark on the house. Its hardwood floors have born soldiers' gruff boots and gentleman's shiny oxfords. Its walls have held the fates of people from far and near, foreigners and locals. Helmi's home becomes a German salon, a revolution museum, and a working class commune. And as freedom comes, real estate crooks start sniffing ...