This simple story is the feature debut for well-known Slovak theater and television director Juraj Nvota. Set in a Slovak village at the turn of the last century, the story teems with passion, and repressed and hidden emotion. It delves into the search for identity, investigating both love and hatred, while dramatizing the tragic relationship between an adolescent girl (Tatiana Pauhofová) and her ambitious father (Ondrej Vetchý). Set against the striking though simple backdrop of a picturesque, even idyllic, landscape - one ostensibly cut off from any important historical, political, or social context whatsoever - the arrival of an unwanted individual evokes the onset of a cruel drama.
In a small community around 400 years ago, Esben (Juraj Hrcka) has to flee when his mother is tried and burnt as a witch as a result of the cruel hysteria of the townsfolk. Finding shelter with the hermit Hans (Peter Staník), a friendship grows between the two, as Hans teaches Esben how to survive secluded from the rest of mankind, and introduces him to the secrets of medicine. But when Hans himself is taken, Esben is forced to flee again...
