In 1992, in a small Bosnian village, the Serbian engineer Luka Djuric is building the local railway. He lives in the middle of nowhere with his beloved aspirant soccer player son, Milos, and his annoying former opera singer wife, Jadranka Djuric. After a soccer game, Milos expects to be invited to play in the Partisan' team, but is called-up to the army. Luka can not believe that a war is beginning in his country and forces his son to join the army. Meanwhile after Milos' farewell party, Jadranka leaves Luka, traveling away with a musician. When the war reaches the area where Luka lives, Milos is captured alive by the enemy. Later, the Muslin nurse Sabaha is abducted by the Bosnian soldiers and the lieutenant asks the lonely Luka to host her as prisoner because they would try to exchange Milos for Sabaha, who belonged to a wealthy family. As the days go by, Luka and Sabaha fall in love for each other until the day that Jadranka returns and the trade of Milos per Sabaha is accepted.
—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil