During Enver Hoxha's totalitarian rule following World War Two, Albania became the most isolated and paranoid European state. Two brothers -- sons of a war hero and domineering official -- come to embody the only possibilities for life under these conditions: capitulation or resistance. Viktor becomes a willing soldier and brings home a beautiful girl, Helena, as his wife. Ismail, shunned by his father and by nature a poet, is emotionally blinded from the mysterious death of his mother when he was 4. As an irresistible attraction develops between Helena and Ismail, they are compelled to uncover the long-hidden tragedy to which they are all heirs.