Slavko Šestak

This film is the true story of the creation of Labin Republic in 1921. When Italy annexed Istria, Labin area that is very rich in coal became strategically important for the new government. Domestic Croatian and Slovene population were disappointed by the method of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia of selling foreigners. Accumulated social problems and the growing terror of Italians lead to great miners' strike, led by favorite union leader Ivan Pipan. The strikers will be join young miner Ive Blazina, who as commander of the Red Guard workers struggles for the mining republic and the love of beautiful Mary Brezac. The sudden intervention of the Italian army destroys their dreams, and resigned Pipan surrenders. But not everyone agrees with his behavior.

The story of the Dubrovnik landowner Nikša Prokulić, who fiercely opposes romance between his daughter Jela and the Czech officer Marek, member of the Austro-Hungarian army that occupied their city in 1814, after the departure of the French. The story of the final downfall of the Republic of Dubrovnik thus also becomes the story of the agony of an ancient aristocratic family.

The plot is focused around three women in an old tavern, famous for its jukebox that was left over to the landlady by her husband when he went on a trip from which he never returned. There is also a spinster-turned-alcoholic because her fiance left her, as well as a young waitress who is waiting for her own fiance but has the impression that she will remain alone like these two. Various new men enter their lives, and in many different ways they destroy the memory of those who left them or contributed to their situation.