A Report on the Party and the Guests

A group of four men and three women picnic in a field, and they hurry to reach a birthday celebration in time. They tidy up and start walking into the woods. A man emerges from the trees, smiles, and links arms with Karel, drawing the others toward a clearing.

The group is directed into a clearing where a table and chairs are brought out. The leader sits and asks if they're enjoying their trip, while the second-in-command enforces a boundary by drawing a circle and forbidding crossing. The others sense something odd as they are told to spread out.

A picnicker with glasses separates the women from the men and arranges each group alphabetically. The circle is drawn around the remaining picnickers, and crossing the line is forbidden. Karel challenges the setup while others urge him to go along with the 'joke'.

Karel crosses the boundary, prompting the leader to pursue him as followers push and toss him in the air. The host and others react to the escalating confrontation as the scene shifts from light-hearted to threatening.

A man returns from the woods with another man and tells Rudolf, the leader, to apologize, claiming he had been sent to show them a shortcut to the birthday celebration. The host then reveals that Rudolf was adopted the day before and offers his own apology.

The picnickers place blame on Karel as much as on Rudolf for the incident in the clearing. There is a sense of tense, uneasy forgiveness as the party moves forward with a fragile atmosphere settled around their meal.

More guests come out of the trees and exchange greetings with the picnickers, then everyone walks down a steep slope through the woods toward a lake. The shore is prepared with numerous tables and white tablecloths for the meal.

Tables and chairs with fine place settings line the lake shore as dinner begins. The mood swings between ceremony and unease, and a woman suddenly begins to cry, revealing her husband has not come to the celebration.

As the seating begins, the missing husband becomes a focal point, and a chair is found missing from the setup. The group scrambles to assign seats, and the host probes why the husband left, while others struggle to understand the differing reactions.

Rudolf asks the host to authorize a search for the missing man, but the host refuses to disrupt dinner. A speech by the picnicker wearing glasses suggests the group should go fetch their friend, insisting he left them, not just the host.

Rudolf proposes using a dog to track the missing picnick­er, which excites the host. The glasses-wearing picnickers argue that the others should stay behind in case the man returns.

The missing wife explains she did not want to leave the celebration. The group contemplates forgetting some things, and the host agrees to continue with the meal. Candles are blown out as a dog barks in the background, signaling unresolved tension.