Vladimír Bičík

Vladimír Olmer is a student at the Faculty of Medicine. His father, a famous Prague surgeon, is rightly proud of him. One day, Vladimír accidentally meets his former classmate Emil Prokeš. He introduces him to his frivolous friends, who only care about how to earn money for an idle life without any effort. The trusting Vladimír takes a liking to his new friends, especially when the beautiful Helena shows interest in him. Soon, parties with alcohol are more important to Vladimír than his studies. Mirek, his only real friend, warns him in vain. His frivolous life ends with a fateful party at which Emil is shot. The case cannot be covered up, the security services get involved, and Vladimír is expelled from the faculty for a year.

Olga finds her husband Karel Brand, whom she has just divorced, shot dead after returning from the cinema. It appears to be a clear case of suicide, but Lieutenant Dusek of the Public Security Service suspects that it is a murder, which, it is not impossible, as a number of evidences point against it, could have been committed by Mrs Olga. A letter from the dead man to his wife seems to dispel any doubt that it could have been murder. Lieutenant Dusek, however, investigates further. Much more than he, however, learns about the true circumstances from Mrs. Olga's legal advisor, Dr. Klimesh. He learns that the letter is indeed a forgery and that Brand's death is linked to the raids of an anti-state gang. He hesitates for a long time whether to confide in security, believing that doing so would testify in favor of Dusek's theory that the murder was committed by Olga...

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.

Two young returnees from the First World War face a difficult future because they cannot find work. One eventually finds a job as an electrician, the other breaks into the Social Democratic press, where he gets the chance to watch up close how the Social Democratic leadership deceives its members and enters the service of the ruling classes. And a newly-trained journalist solves the problem of whether he should also adapt to the corrupt environment...

Doctor Adéla Neradová, a medical doctor, has succumbed to the desire to uncover a criminal and become a kind of Sherlock Holmes in skirts. The thankless role of her Dr. Watson has fallen to her husband Peter, a professional photographer who helps her with the cases she gets involved in, but usually gets everything mixed up.

Czechoslovak counter-espionage intercepts a coded message from the West German secret service ordering death for an unknown person on Czech territory.

The bank officer Bedrich Hroch is sent by the bank director to the zoo, which asked an allocation of one and half kg of gold for a gold tooth for a hippo. During the check up of the hippo's teeth Bedrich is swallowed by the hippo. The man does not die in the hippo's guts and he chats quite happily with his frightened wife Dása. Journalist Pip Karen, his friend is also present to the dialogue and he has immediately an idea how to use this special situation. He tells to the new minister Borovec and his opponent professor Fibinger that there is a hippo in the zoo which can speak. He also tells them how to use this situation for a political propaganda.