Building a bridge is no simple matter. The city council has to decide between two competing proposals, one of which is submitted by villainous scoundrels and scoundrels who would like to enrich themselves everywhere. Although the film was made before the communist coup, it already anticipates the political diction of the stories that the approaching Stalinist period will produce.

Mr. Novák, an insurance company clerk, only cares about his job, nothing else interests him. Even the social changes in February 1948 leave him indifferent. He only becomes aware of them when the insurance company is closed down. He has to make a decision: either retire or go to work in a factory. Neither of these options appeals to Mr. Novák...

In the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects.