Arvo Heina

There are three children growing at Tammaru farm - one boy, Margus; and two orphan girls, Mari and Tiina. Margus' parents want him to marry Mari instead of Tiina as she is more their kind. Hotblooded Tiina is completely different from them and her mother was once executed for being a witch. Thinking that Tiina has bewitched Margus, Mari starts to publicly accuse her stepsister of being a werewolf.

Heino Raagen and his war comrades begin a new battle while arriving at their home village - establishing a collective farm. The sufferings and fears of the war have exhausted people; nevertheless, they still stick together and protect their close ones. Heino's girlfriend Valve hides the plans of her brother Robert hiding in the forest from him; as a result, their relationship will fall apart. Life goes on, but disappointment and anger will take their toll even when years have gone by.

Mari has successfully led a collective farm in 1950s and fulfilled all tasks given from the authorities. Nonetheless, things in the collective farm become progressively worse. The Committee of the Communist Party sends its representative Peeter who learns that Mari acts as a tyrant for the local people. She has to resign during the elections of the new manager. Being without authority has a damaging effect on her so she starts to regain her position with the help of her old stalinist tricks.

Two proud fisherman families live on a very small island in Estonia. The two fishermen have always bore a grudge against each other. Their stubbornness and disobedience to German occupiers leads to dramatic events where staying alive is worse than death. Since it is impossible to escape public contempt, they have to decide how to redeem themselves.