This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.
In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.
한 무리의 남녀들이 숲 속에서 피크닉을 즐기고 있다. 그런 그들 앞에 루돌프라는 남자와 일행들이 나타나 끌고 간다. 루돌프는 남녀들을 한 자리에다 묶어두고 장난치다가 파티 주최자인 중년 남성에게 혼나고, 남녀들은 중년 남성을 따라 숲 속 파티장으로 이동한다. 이윽고 파티가 시작하려던 도중 한 여자의 남편이 파티장을 떠났다는 사실이 밝혀진다.
