Otýlie Foldynová is already the epitome of strange and beautiful; a woman whose heart is divided between the mystic cosmopolitan life of Prague and the quaint bucolic days of Liškov. Yet during the hours of spirits, while finishing a shift at the local tavern, she meets someone from stranger tides; Mikuláš Vyví is back from the U.S. to his native village, and he brings with him unsettling times and a beating heart. Otýlie cannot ignore the magnetic presence, despite her sense of preservation and the eerie impression the man leaves with her close circle. She treads odd paths at erratic times and places with the unsettling man. But how long will her caution prevail?