Life of Czechoslovak soldiers in a military unit for the so called "politically unreliable" - the Technical auxiliary battalions, aka "the black barons". Although it might seem like a political satire and it's mostly funny, it shows the reality and the absurdity of military service under the communist regime. Based on a novel by Miloslav Svandrlik.

Three "miniatures" touching on romantic relationships between men and women from different perspectives. Matěj, a young vegetable garden guard and lover of idleness and village women, spends the night in the grass with Agáta, the wife of a switchman, even though he is not particularly interested in the unsatisfied woman. Voloďa, a young man growing up without a father, is confused about his feelings for the married thirty-year-old Míša, who seduces him on a whim and then rejects him. The hunter with a "free spirit" refuses to spend even a single day with his unhappy village wife, whom the mayor (who first got him drunk) married him to years ago out of envy for his shooting skills.

Princess Antonia rules harshly, squeezing her subjects, but the royal treasury benefits. The success of her reign fills Antonia with unchristian pride, she is domineering, greedy, unkind to her royal mother and to the baker Matthias, who genuinely loves her. How else, comes the just punishment. Princess Antonia finds herself and her entire castle in the power of the infernalists, and she has plenty of time to reckon with her conscience.