Smoke on the Potato Fields

The film opens with Dr. Meluzin and his wife parting at an airport as he decides to return to Czechoslovakia to search for himself. He leaves his wife behind and chooses a new direction in life. The scene establishes the emotional motive for his relocation.

Meluzin takes a job as a primary care physician at a health center in Větrov, sharing a modest room with Kodet. He navigates a wary village and tries to establish his role among locals. The move marks the start of his assimilation into rural life.

Villagers are suspicious of the outsider, and Meluzin's first patient flees when asked to undress. The nurse assigned to him is dismayed by his insistence on keeping proper medical records. The tension highlights the cultural barrier he faces.

Meluzin accompanies the ambulance driver on a detour to visit the driver's girlfriend, Markéta Zitová, an impulsive young woman. He remains detached but is drawn into the personal drama around the village. The moment foreshadows his growing involvement with Markéta.

On an autumn afternoon, Meluzin lights a small fire to roast potatoes, drawing a hostile reprimand from a villager. The incident underscores his outsider status and the fragility of acceptance. It also foreshadows how simple acts become focal points of village life.

During strolls to the cemetery, Meluzin befriends the village sexton, who jokingly calls him a colleague. This quiet bond begins to anchor him in the community. The connection also frames his evolving sense of belonging.

Meluzin befriends Pavla Kodetová, the schoolteacher who lights a fire in his Franklin stove and invites him into her kitchen for lívance. The memory of his mother and bilberries stirs his nostalgia. A tender, evolving relationship starts to grow between the doctor and Pavla.

Petr Kodet tells Meluzin that he and Pavla cannot have a child, and Meluzin suspects whose infertility is at play. He declines to examine Pavla, suggesting a fertility specialist for both. The revelation strains trust and deepens Petr's distrust of the doctor.

Petr leaves his wife in the wake of the infertility news, complicating Meluzin's growing closeness with Pavla. The couple's strain intensifies the doctor’s ethical balancing act. The personal conflicts color his professional choices.

Markéta becomes pregnant and confides in Meluzin, who declines to perform an abortion. She asks for relief, but the doctor’s stance is guided by his ethics and perhaps his affection. The pregnancy ties Meluzin further to Markéta's fate.

Meluzin senses the pregnancy may be risky and arranges for Markéta to go to a maternity hospital in a nearby city. He worries about her safety and tries to shield the unborn child from danger. The plan shows his protective tendencies but foreshadows tragedy.

Markéta runs away from the maternity hospital and returns to Větrov, going into labor at Pavla's apartment. Meluzin arrives as she gives birth to a healthy girl with the nurse's help, but Markéta herself is in a critical state. The arrival of the child intensifies the village's tangled relationships.

In a rickety village ambulance with failing windshield wipers, Meluzin and a nurse drive through a storm toward a city hospital, but they cannot save Markéta. The tragedy cements his impact on the villagers and the community's sense of loss. The scene marks a turning point in his integration into village life.

In the coda, Petr Kodet drives a bulldozer at the highway project threatening Markéta's mother's home, and Meluzin persuades him to return to his wife. Petr and Pavla agree to adopt Markéta's daughter, sealing a transformed village family. The story closes on themes of reconciliation and chosen family.