The hero of the story is the writer Vladimír Tůma, who is invited to spend a month studying in a neighbouring country. There, the foreign office assigns him a guide, Irena Stepowska. The two young people are attracted to each other, but there is a catch - Vladimír is married, Irena is married....
Josef Houbička, the owner of the U pěti veverek apartment building in Malostran, is a kind and forgiving good man who allows himself to be ruthlessly oppressed by his proud wife, Filoména, and secretly fixes her problems with the tenants. He lends rent money to two poor painters and bribes...
Second half of the 19th century. In a small town in South Bohemia, fifth-former Jan Ratkin is living through the confusions of first love together with his classmates.
