Ive Vrana, a young Dalmatian and member of SKOJ, stands at the heart of a 1945 landscape where the communist government is newly formed but still wrestling with remnants of the Chetniks. He travels from his homeland after his father is killed by Italian soldiers, moving to Serbia to finish his high school education with relatives while clinging to a vision of revolution and a higher collective purpose. Early on, the personal meets the political in a sharp way: his girlfriend Milica is branded a bourgeoisie traitor simply because of her upbringing, a stigma that strains their bond and tests the strength of Ive’s beliefs. Around them, the atmosphere crackles with the unruly energy of the moment, as he also witnesses the drinking-fueled bravado and reckless actions of partisan leader Zeka, whose behavior underscores the moral ambiguity that permeates both sides of the conflict.
As the local partisans clash and push for influence, the hunt for Marko, a Chetnik leader, intensifies and pulls Ive deeper into the conflict. The romance and ideals that once seemed clear become tangled in a brutal reality where violence is not monopolized by one side: even his own comrades are capable of repression that shocks him and complicates his sense of justice. The situation grows more volatile as the movement’s goals collide with acts of coercion and power plays, forcing Ive to confront how revolutionary zeal can coarsen into fear, manipulation, and force.
In a bid for clarity, Ive joins OZNA, hoping to serve the cause with greater discipline and purpose. Yet the more he learns, the more he realizes that ambition, secrecy, and fear shape decisions on all sides, and that truth can be a casualty in the fog of war. He encounters the hollow lies of an opportunistic officer, whose rhetoric helps justify brutal actions and the arbitrary violence he witnesses around him. The personal unease deepens when Milica’s affection for him is complicated by her affair with her schoolteacher, a figure of authority and guidance in the village — Učiteljica — a betrayal that cuts deep and unsettles Ive’s faith in both love and leadership. This tangled entanglement of loyalty, desire, and ideology presses on him as the conflict closes in.
Frustrated and morally exhausted, Ive walks away from the village to seek space and silence, but the pursuit of anonymity proves futile. He is suddenly seized by partisans who mistake him for a Chetnik, and when he cannot produce documentation to prove his identity, they kill him. The tragedy of his fate underscores the film’s meditation on the cost of youthful idealism in a time of war, the moral complexity of a country rebuilding itself, and the way love, loyalty, and belief can fracture under the pressure of history.
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