Dir.: Juraj Jakubisko; Script: Juraj Jakubisko; Phot.: Ján uri�; Ed.: Ludk Hudec; Mus.: Ondej Soukup, Jan Jirásek; Cast: Deana Horváthová, Milan Bahul, Joachim Kemmer, Klára Issová, Jana �vandová, Jií Krytiná, Vladimír Javorský, Vladimír Sadílek, Matj Hádek, Lucie Vondráková, F; Prod. & Sales: Deana Jakubiskova, J&J Jakubisko Film, Dolní Chaloupku 15155, 10600 Prague (République Tchèque), tél.: (420-121) 756 945, fax: (420-121) 762 327.

The end of winter is approaching in a small village near the border, in the mountains at the end of the world. Despite their remoteness from civilization, the villagers do not want for anything; they live off the forests, meadows and narrow fields in the hills beneath the snow-capped peaks. They live and honour their gods as their ancestors have done for centuries before them. A wedding feast is taking place in the local tavern, a large wooden house leaning on a rock in the middle of the village. The bride is young Verona and it is clear that she is pregnant. When a couple of wolves appear behind the cottages, the men, their bravado fuelled by drink, rush out on sleighs with their guns to hunt the animals. At the same moment, from the other side of the village, a large pack of wolves attacks the defenceless villagers. After the carnage is done only Verona survives thanks to the bravery of her groom's ten-year-old brother Goran. She gives birth that same tragic night, names her daughter Veronika and, as a token of her gratitude, pledges the infant to Goran in future marriage. When the men return from the hunt, they find their women and children massacred and the town devastated. The tavern keeper marries Verona but for the other men it will take a fortuitous visit by an itinerant circus for them to finally acquire new spouses and rebuild the community. It is thanks to the circus, too, in the person of its devious operator Madina, that the village obtains a new measure of prosperity. Madina teaches the villagers to grow poppies and cannabis and instructs them in the art of smuggling. But the smuggling and affluence eventually lead to new problems. Veronika grows up to prefer Madina's son, Michal, over her mother's choice of Goran, and the village is visited by a series of calamities, some clearly man-made others seemingly retributive "acts of God". Does this village have a future?