Amid the political turmoil of 1940s Hungary, teenage girl Juli (Zsuzsa Czinkoczi) is sent to live with her Stalinist aunt, Magda (Anna Polony). Orphaned when her father became a casualty of the Stalinist purges, Juli, as she awakens to her own political consciousness, begins to rebel against Magda's stern iron rule. Juli and Magda's antagonistic relationship comes to a head as events in Hungary lead up to the failed 1956 uprising against the Soviets.