The attempted coup of Estonia on Dec. 1, 1924, conducted by Comintern, staged by the Soviet Communists, failed and resulted in many lost lives on both sides. The Communists were forced underground.

The events take place in Estonia in a summer in the 1960s. The Boy and the Girl want to go from mainland Estonia to the island of Saaremaa, but they do not have any money to buy the ticket to the ferry. They manage to hide themselves into a lorry that carries hay. Because they are smoking while they are on the lorry, a fire breaks out. The problem is, that the ferry is in the middle of the sea.

After a long night with his old war buddies, Andres Lapeteus regains consciousness in the hospital. How has confusion, bewilderment and alienation developed between these men who once fought together side by side? Is this the inevitable result of the Stalinist regime, the influence of his social climber wife, or the effect of his personal cowardliness and conformism? What happened to Andres Lapeteus?