Vlado Kreslin

An educationalist - a 'thief of childhood' becomes alarmed over the inappropriateness of old, fairy tale stories for children. The old book like the one about witches and monsters in her hands suddenly springs to life. Out from it escape Sophie the Witch and her companions: Black Claw, Gray Nightmare and the Red Straw Monster, as well as the water-sprite Aquiline, the shy little dwarf Tiny Peat, and the enchantress Lady Spider. They scatter among the town and woods and performed all kinds of mischief. Sophie just can't get her broom to fly, because she became too fat. The monsters, disappointed over the century in which we live, return back into the book, the witch Sophie loses her magic power and becomes 'Aunt Sophie', and Tiny Peat has changed into a black cat.

In the wild times of the Second World War, Blanka marries political grandee Pavle, who is shortly afterwards sent to Goli Otok as a political prisoner. Blanka has enthusiasm for photography, becomes independent and opens a studio of photography with Laco. But soon she realizes that her business partner is an impostor. Pavle returns from prison, but their relationship, despite awareness of the political interference in their intimate sphere, imbues the bitter chill and misunderstanding. Blanka tries to drown her endless problems in alcohol and seduce her only male friend, but her last rescue, the thread of love, is being interrupted as well. Is every love of Blanka Kolak sentenced to death, is love possible at all, is worth living without it?

A tragedy looms for a young Gypsy violinist whose half brother is in the throes of first love.

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".