Migrant worker Bogdan Dragović returns home on the eve of World War II. He attempts to get in touch with the Communist Party and his son Vladimir. HIs wife, Milena, whom he has abandoned, starts up a relationship with Petar Bajević, a Comintern agent. Vladimir turns against his father. Milena’s father Vukašin and her brother Ivan are the true representatives of civic Yugoslavia, which buckles under the pressure of the approaching evil. The war begins; Milena and Ivan return to their home village of Prerevo; Vladimir joins the partisans; Petar and Bogdan are apprehended by the Gestapo; and Vukašin stays at home, where he is held hostage by Vladimir.