Antal Konrád

1183 год. Во время Рождественских празднеств стареющий король Англии Генрих II должен назвать имя наследника. На это событие прибывают жена короля Элеанора Аквитанская, которая провела десять лет в тюрьме за участие в заговоре против монарха, любовница короля — тщеславная принцесса Алэ, ее брат, король Франции Филипп II Август и трое сыновей Генриха II: Ричард Львиное Сердце, Джеффри и Джон. Все члены семьи люто ненавидят друг друга. Их объединяет лишь одно — непомерная жажда власти и готовность пойти на любое предательство ради нее.

1958. In the cell of the condemned, seven men await the signs of an approaching execution. All of them recall their pasts and envision their wish-dreams.

История жизни польского еврея, прошедшего через все ужасы Катастрофы европейского еврейства и выжившего несмотря ни на что.

When a young boy comes in to see a doctor abourt a red mark on his face, the doctor's wife welcomes him into the consulting room instead. As they talk, she offers him something to eat and then notes that his manner of eating is just like that of her previous husband, who died in prison many years earlier. It turns out that the young man had been his cell mate for a year, and he tells her the story of how her husband died. She then remembers (in flashbacks) how she had helped her first husband rid himself of his sexual repression, and how she had promised him she would marry her current husband if she were widowed. It seems her doctor-husband was a man who could remain untouched through any political climate, and was much admired by her first husband. Now that her memories have been awakened by the young man's account, she ignores the repeated phone calls of her current husband and decides to rid this young man of his own sexual repressions.

Действие разворачивается в конце 40-х. Посещая курсы подготовки молодых специалистов — будущих строителей коммунизма, молодая девушка Вера Анги испытывает настоящую любовь к преподавателю курсов.