After five years of hard work in America Juraj Hordubal (Anatoliy Kuznetsov) returns back home. He is looking forward to his wife Polana (Libuse Geprtová) and his little daughter Hafie. The family and the village welcome him with hesitation. Everybody believed that Juraj died in America because Polana stopped receiving money from him already two years ago. Polana's farm was prospering first of all thanks to the young stable boy Stepán (Sándor Oszter). Men in the pub first indicate and then say to Juraj directly that Polana has been unfaithful to him with Stepán.
In hospital, photographer Jinx Kingsley wakes from a coma after a car crash - a failed suicide attempt, prompted by her fiance Leo jilting her to elope with Jinx's lifelong best friend, Meg.
Pépé le Moko, one of France's most wanted criminals, hides out in the Casbah section of Algiers. He knows police will be waiting for him if he tries to leave the city.
A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumour that their families are from the same line.
In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff tells her friend Levin Schücking about her recently completed story Die Judenbuche and begins by reading from the manuscript.
