In the last days of the war, American planes bomb a synthetic gasoline plant in the Sudetenland. The workers are then faced with the enormous task of building a new plant on the site of the ruins and starting production. Their efforts are truly bearing fruit - after immense sacrifices, Stalin's plants are back in full swing, which is something that competitors abroad don't like to see and they try to use the reaction to liquidate the production of synthetic gasoline...
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
During World War II, an innkeeper vows to abstain from alcohol for the sake of his family. Years later, as they thrive in Normandy, his resolve is tested by a charming advertising professional who loves to drink.
A soldier and member of the Dutch resistance investigates stolen art in the wake of the Second World War, including a Vermeer sold to the Nazis by a flamboyant forger.
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life.
In post-World War II America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
In 1947 Prague, Holocaust survivor Dita lives in a hostel for orphans, acting as a protective mentor to a younger girl while failing to fix her own shattered life.
Concentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska finds herself involved in mystery, greed, and murder when she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America.
A handsome newcomer in a village marries a local girl. A year or so later an abandoned baby is left on the couple's doorstep, a baby the man had with another woman.
