Mihály Ráday

Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.

A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.

1942. Owing to a stolen mink coat, Süti, the young poet and journalist, gets acquainted with Katalin, the idolated singer. Before being drafted to labour service, he shows the actress the song he composed for her, entitled Smouldering Cigarette.

The pride of this rural town is its profitable spa. Gedeon Pap, a director with a soaring imagination and a penchant for breaking discipline, is the envy of his entourage, who write anonymous letters to the top management, while his colleagues, the chief accountant, the coffee maker and Uncle Buzsák all seem to be on his side. Imre Bódis, the inspector of the powerful headquarters, arrives, whom Gedeon Pap and his circle try to win over with small courtesies.

“I need a dog!" says Gabi, the main character in the film, to her parents. Every child has either a dog or a brother or sister! Well, if not a brother or sister, then a dog. I mean, a stray dog. "Who" can be rescued, taken into "shared care", looked after, fed, played with. But what happens when it turns out that the "common dog" - which a group of children have banded together to feed and care for - has a legal owner? And she is an old lady, whose only companion in her loneliness is this dog.