An impoverished Russian aristocrat spends his days in a fashionable German town waiting for news from Russia about the death of his rich grandmother, so that he can repay his debts to a troubled French adventurer and marry his troubled cousin. His stepdaughter Polina also expects the inheritance.

A group of people go on a picnic in the mountains. Longing for some love and understanding, they try to get close to one another, but the barriers are insurmountable. Failing to pull through their nutshells of solitude, they get back to the city, the eternal desert.

Macedonia on the turn of the century is enslaved by decaying Ottoman Empire. Freedom fighters, in order to raise money for their cause, kidnap American lady who works in Protestant mission.

A journalist lives his smooth citizen life, married to a woman from respected family. But, conflicts with manager at work are becoming more often, his marriage is unstable and the outer manifestation of all this is a strange skin disease. Doctors recommend resting in nature and self-examination. In the mountains, in a lonely house near the lake, he meets a woman, also unadjusted and lonely. The consequences of this encounter are beneficial. Capable to love again, he gets his moral strength, and disease retreats. He breaks off his contacts with his wife's family and with "petit bourgeois" of his former life, confronts his boss and wins, realizing that this is only a first victory which has straightened him up.