In 1919, just months after the communists took power in the Republic of Hungary, counter-revolutionary nationalists seized power. The police and army besieged and suppressed the opposition. Istv á n Cserzi, a former Red Army soldier, was tracked to the countryside. After discovering that the women had secretly poisoned their mother-in-law and husband, Istv á n, the rightful owner of the farm, had to make a choice about her own life.