Karel Pěnkava

Adolescence is always a difficult time; it is doubly so for Gábina. For one thing, she is growing up in the normalization years of the 1970s, and then she also has to face the reality that her father is a well-known actor disavowed by the regime. Although he abandoned the family years before, his existence casts an ominous shadow over the lives of not only Gábina, but also her older sister and mother, who are trying to find a civilized way through the social mire of the times.

The beautiful lady, as the locals call the widow and owner of the apartment building, the aging Mrs. Růžena, lives in a neighborhood nicknamed Little Asia. Her last tenant has just moved out, and she lives alone with her parrot. At this moment, an older man, Kurd Kemal, a construction foreman looking for a sublet, comes to the house. After some initial reserve, Růžena and the man understand each other in a special way. Both have their dignity, stemming from living in a different culture, and both have their favorite animal—she has a parrot, he has a black cat. When the distinguished lady learns that Kemal needs to marry a Czech woman so that he does not have to return to his homeland, she tries to help him and marries him...

A detective fairy tale about a mysterious robbery and somewhat confusing courtship.