In 1950, when a young communist director arrives to take charge of a stud farm, his efforts to draw on the experience of the old hands there meet with little success. Indeed, so outraged are they at the changeover to communism that they harass him at every turn, especially after he treats a local...
In 18th century Hapsburg ruled Transilvania the Romanian shepherds from the village of Vlașini face the oppression and injustice of imperial authorities, being forced to flee from their place of birth or pay tribute to the Germans of Hermannstadt for grazing sheep on their own pastures.
The action of the movie unfolds on two levels. On the one hand, the shepherds, displaced by the abuses of the Habsburg powers, are living in "the country". Here they run into other troubles, with the demands of the Phanariot authorities. At the same time, the action unfolds in the village deserted...