When The Brakes Won't Hold

In Riga and the surrounding resort region, Lieutenant Siliņš and his fiancée Aija are kept busy by a surge in daring car thefts. During a high-speed pursuit, Aija nearly catches the criminals, only to see them escape at the last moment—but not before recognizing one of the thieves as her eighteen-year-old brother, Juris. The situation grows even more complicated when the fugitives, hiding in a forest, become accidental witnesses to an attack on a young woman. Hoping to redeem himself in his sister’s eyes, Juris sets out to find the attacker on his own, with tragic consequences. As the investigation unfolds, the police must untangle a web of interconnected crimes.

A miller's son, Johannes, falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Victoria. The novel follows them through adolescence, as Johannes struggles with the social hierarchy and becomes a successful author, and Victoria is forced into marrying Otto, a lieutenant, to save the troubled family economy.

After World War II, a woman refuses to believe her husband, missing on the Russian front, is dead. Flashbacks reveal their brief courtship and marriage. Years later, she travels to Russia with his photo, determined to find him. What will she discover?

The times of serfdom in Latvia. Brothers Tom, Michelis and Andris, driven to despair by the cruelty of the Dormuizh landowner, decide to start a liberation struggle. Tom and Michelis go into the forest and tame a wolf pack there. Taking advantage of the folk legend that a person can turn into a werewolf and live in his guise, the brothers intend to fight the German barons with the help of a wolf pack controlled by them and a messenger Andris, who has remained in the village for the time being...

Valdis Nulle is a young and ambitious captain of fishing ship 'Dzintars'. He has his views on fishing methods but the sea makes its own rules. Kolkhoz authorities are forced to include dubious characters in his crew, for example, former captain Bauze and silent alcoholic Juhans. The young captain lacks experience in working with so many fishermen on board. Unexpectedly, pretty engineer Sabīne is ordered to test a new construction fishing net on Nulle's ship and 'production conflict' between her and the captain arises...

A war veteran gets involved in a brawl...

The heroine of the film Asya works in the dining room of the Riga Glass Factory. She loves to carve wooden figures and wants to learn how to work glass, like her husband and all their friends. But to Uldis, his wife's hobbies don't seem serious. He is also indifferent to the troubles of his workmates, and thinks more about his career.

In the experimental clinic, a batch of valuable drug was stolen. Major Grigast suspects that someone from the clinic is involved in this. He entrusts this complex matter to a young investigator Mara. An investigation leads her to a distant border town in the south of the country, where the offender intended to ship the drug abroad.

The great actress Julia Lambert suddenly realizes that she is, alas, getting old. What can help a woman who has absolutely everything? Only new love. And Julia falls in love with the first person she meets: an ambitious young man who has not a penny behind his soul. So begins a new life - a new romance and new tears. How else could it be?

A group of men go under-ice fishing, but find themselves trapped on a piece of ice, that has broken off. As they are drifting through the sea, the tension between them rises.

Land surveyors arrive in two parishes to measure and redistribute manor land. The rivalry between both feoffees for land and woman begins.

Doctor Rūdolfs spends time at his country cottage, and there he meets teacher Laura - a mother of two children whose husband is in prison. Rūdolfs rescues Laura's daughter, Zaiga, who is sick, befriends her son, Maris, and falls in love with Laura, but she desperately struggles with her feelings of responsibility towards her family.

A young boy finds a watch with an engraving in Spanish saying that the watch belongs to Captain Enrico, and adventures begin...

The epic film is based on the motifs of Vilis Lācis' novel "The Zītari Family". The tragedy of the Zītari family is a model of Latvian national history. With the beginning of World War I, the patriarchal way of life of Captain Andrejs and his wife Alvīne, their children Kārlis, Ings, Ernests, Elza and Janka changes, with years spent at work and in rare, modest celebrations. Kārlis voluntarily goes to the front, Ingus disappears without a trace on long sea voyages. Not wanting to live in the territory occupied by the German army, the Zītari evacuate to the distant Altai region. The unusually difficult living conditions and the drastically changing political situation of the post-revolutionary period also affect each member of the Zītari family. When the opportunity arises to return to Latvia, Andrejs and Alvīne are no longer among the living. The old sailor's nest has collapsed and the young Zītari are no longer able to preserve their father's house - all the property is stolen.