On the surface a straightforward tale of the search for a buried treasure, the film is a textbook example of German expressionism, with the passions of the protagonists conveyed as much through symbolism as action.
Eva is a widow bored with life, with her job as an architect, with her younger lover, and with her two teenage offspring. She is eventually assigned the job of redesigning the cells of a new prison, but even when her enthusiasm returns a little with the assignment, she is discouraged by the pseudo-intellectual stance of the prison warden and a non-communicative visit to her father. In an act of desperation, she steals some money and a gun - and fully intends to use them both.
Three brothers struggle to survive on the harsh, inexorable and melancholy plains of Slovenia's Prekmurje region. The oldest flees from home in search of a better living, the middle brother survives by refusing to comply with tradition and the youngest, who received his education as a vet in the city simply cannot get used to the slow pace of country life. Will their father live to see the day when respect for the traditional ways will heal the wounds of the impoverished land?
A war disabled lieutenant colonel, who did not make it in the society, after many years of loneliness meets happy woman who loved him in the past, and not forgotten him despite the fact that she married meanwhile.
Breza, a country boy from a godforsaken Prekmurje village, wishes to perform at the village festivities playing his electric guitar, but is faced with fierce competition in the form of a traditional Roma band entertaining the villagers by playing popular folk music. Nevertheless, his music seems to be the key to the heart of Silvija, a village beauty and the daughter of a wealthy gastarbeiter from Switzerland, who was sent home to find a healthy Slovene husband. However, the story of Breza and Silvija only marks the beginning of the plot whose main character is actually Düplin, an eccentric outsider, a deaf-and-dumb tramp or, as Breza's mother, the old Popovka, a farm owner and a fortune-teller also referred to as Strina, called him "a lad from a citrus producing country".
The movie based upon the classical Slovene novel Martin Kačur, depicts the clash between the teacher Martin Kačur and his conservative environment. Due to his progressive ideas, he is transferred to a small town. The village environment is even more depressing than his former surroundings were, as the influence of both the secular and the Church authorities is even greater in the country. Even though Martin meets Tončka and the two of them get married, he gradually becomes a disillusioned and embittered man. In time, when society's strictures become somewhat milder, Martin is transferred to a more friendly environment, but all the injustices he has experienced have already bitten too deep. Unlike his wife, Martin finds it very difficult to accept changes. When his son dies, it seems as though he has lost all his elan and the will to live. Will he be able to go on bringing the light of knowledge to the ignorant masses, or will his ideals be buried forever like a man in a snowdrift?
Tasmania, 1954: Slovenian migrant Melita abandons her husband and young daughter, Sonja. Sonja's distraught father perseveres with his new life in a new country, but he is soon crushed into an alcoholic despair, and Sonja herself abandons him at the earliest opportunity. Now, nearly 20 years later, a single and pregnant Sonja returns to Tasmania's highlands and to her father in an attempt to put the pieces of her life back together.
In 2009, a group of military enthusiasts led by the commander France (Gojmir Lešnjak - Gojc) decides to occupy Trieste. The group that stages battles performs it at a completely fictional location. However, this hobby is not to the liking of France's wife Marija (Silva Čušin) and his daughter Mateja (Anja Drnovšek). The daughter as a representative of the young generation has no understanding of her father's enthusiasm for partisans, battles and Tito. France is also confronted by the Slovenian police led by the commander Brane (Dario Varga) as Brane forbids France to stage any more battles ... Will the young generation accept our history and will Trieste be ours?
Jean, a young French hooligan, is sent on a forced vacation to his grandfather Evald, who lives in the Slovenian countryside. Despite Evald's warm welcome, Jean remains quite withdrawn, speaks only French with his grandfather, and coldly rejects his lifestyle, which is mainly devoted to tending the orchard and selling apples on the local road. While they struggle to get used to life together, frost is slowly approaching Evald's orchard.
Young lawyer Rebeka is given a case involving the murder of a production designer, and the main suspect is her childhood friend Jana. What first seems like a very straightforward case gradually reveals the dark sides, mysterious depths and stray ways of human nature.
A TV journalist making a documentary in a factory finds out that the workers have been on strike and tries to analyze the strike in his film, but is thwarted by the TV company. His failure at his job is interwoven with his failed marriage.