A sociological drama with a detective plot taking place in the period of industry and agriculture collectivization of the 1950s. Peter Lánik, a young lawyer, during a trial finds out that whom he thought to be his father is in fact only his stepfather. Little by little he learns about the tragic life of his parents as well as about the dramatical atmosphere of the forced cooperativization of village farms.

A remake of Vávra's 1948 atomic age thriller Krakatit.