An alcoholic Bosnian poet sends his wife and daughter away from Sarajevo so they can avoid the troubles there. However, he is soon descended upon by a pair of orphaned brothers. The brothers have escaped a massacre in their own village and have come to the Bosnian capital in search of a long lost Aunt. The poet befriends the boys and together they try to survive the horror of the siege of Sarajevo.

After the war, two friends are together again. Every year they buy one pair of new shoes.

The year is two thousand and something. An elderly couple live alone in a flat in Sarajevo, with their own rituals: drinking coffee, playing cards, watching TV.