István Novák

A couple in love, but sadly married to other partners. What is to be done? A diagnosis of a comfortable but profoundly incapable society, a Hungary suffering from an endemic private life disorder, observable both among the urban middle and the rural lower classes. A descent into a relationship’s demise, more from the tired inertia of a country that has lost all direction and sense of purpose than any ill will.

Hungary, 1950s. József Pelikán, who works as a dam keeper on the Danube, meets by chance Zoltán Dániel, an old friend whom he saved from death years before and who is now a powerful politician.

The dramatically dense film takes place in workers' surrounding in the sixties. It raises the newspaper article serving as the basis for the short story to be a model: in a plastic factory fire breaks out causing enormous damages.

The film describes the general situation and conditions of the middle-aged intellectuals.