The story takes place somewhere in Central Europe, in the 19th century. A woman and a man, tired of the hardships of war, want to rest in a small village. The woman is a widow, her husband died in the war, and the man is a deserter. Both of them know the settlement from the peaceful times, which now does not at all remind of the same peaceful place. The streets are full of war victims, homeless and hungry people. Our heroes find the house of an acquaintance, but unfortunately the host has hanged himself. Fugitives can find a final refuge in the museum, where an elderly teacher has barricaded himself. The two people are connected by increasingly close emotional ties.