Doctor Rudolfs spends time at his country cottage, and there he meets teacher Laura - a mother of two children whose husband is in prison. Rudolfs rescues Laura's daughter, Zaiga, who is sick, befriends her son, Maris, and falls in love with Laura, but she desperately struggles with her feelings of responsibility towards her family.
During World War II three best friends are mobilized into the Waffen-SS Latvian Legion. Years later their fates continue to intertwine, as memories of war loom in back of their minds.
Cezars Kalnins installs telephones by day and composes pop songs by night. His band has a hard time receiving the permit from Soviet censorship authorities for a public debut. A member of the Culture Committee superficially listens to Cēzars' songs and deems the lyrics "unsuitable and frivolous” and "unfit for the Soviet youth”, and is later powerless to stop the grindstone of public debate, which she has herself initiated.