After attending his mother’s funeral, where he meets an old flame, officer Arnošt returns to his security duties at a military facility in Josefov. He spends his days carrying out his job routinely. In the evenings he gets drunk at the local pub, where Marie, who is in love with him, works. For Arnošt, she is just a hobby, a substitute for the love he left behind in his hometown. Just as the rest of his current life is a substitute for the life he could have had long ago.