Barbara Vicković

The story takes place in Osijek in 1968. Seventeen-year-old Tomo is the greatest hope the town of Osijek has for winning the Junior Cup of Yugoslavia. Josip Broz Tito himself is expected to come to Osijek to open the competition. Nevertheless, Tomo is more interested in girls than in rowing. The beautiful prostitute Betika and a lovely girl named Jasna have captured his heart. Unfortunately, he has impotence issues of which even his doctors are unaware. Therefore, is unable to realize his sexual fantasies. Finally, he ends up in a hospital where local members of the political elite persuade him to compete in the cup. These pressures come to a head when his father is taken to prison as a political suspect.

Vojvodina, 1991. A Croatian civilian POW named Ivan manages to escape a Serbian prison camp. Finding nowhere else to go, he spends the night on a seemingly wealthy plot of land. The next morning, he's discovered by its owner, a Serb named Stevan, who offers him two choices. Either Ivan stays and does Stevan's dirty work, or he surrenders him to Serbian paramilitary authorities. During his stay he meets Ana, Stevan's daughter-in-law, whose trapped in a loveless marriage with his violent son Dušan, whose currently situated on the frontlines somewhere in Croatia. Finding company in each other's sorrow, the two Croats slowly begin to fall in love.

On the eve of the war, a former army officer Pavle is torn between the reality that forces him to decide and choose a side, and his own life dilemmas. He becomes increasingly preoccupied with morbid thoughts which leads his life to a tragic epilogue.

After their deceased grandmother leaves them both her isolated seaside mansion, two feuding families start a turf war over it. However, when her secret lover enters the picture, they decide to put their differences aside to get rid of him.

Upon arriving at a Catholic boarding school, the boy feels an antipathy to the religious practices the school imposes. However, students and teachers find the boy rather strange and harass him.

Mirjana is returning to Croatia from Germany where she spent some time as a refugee. She is pregnant. Now, when the war in Croatia is over and her visa expired, Mirjana is coming back to her family in a remote and devastated village. Her family is trying to move on with their lives after the war. They rebuild their house and they are trying to find a new husband for their pregnant daughter. Being patriarchal and devoted to their tradition they believe a woman needs to have a husband and a child has to have a father. Of course, the child and the father have to be of the same nationality. Problems start when Mirjana gives a birth to a boy with Asian features. The family and the neighbors are shocked. Mirjana¡¦s rigid father refuses to accept a grandchild of a different nationality, not to mention the one of a different race! Mirjana and her son are forced to leave. She returns only when her father falls seriously ill and requests to see his grandson before he dies.

The adventures of a small town Croatian family during the 1960s. The decade will leave eternal marks on all of their members, but most of the story focuses on the youngest one, a boy, Frula, who discovers the love and fashion of the time.