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Rados (Svetislav Goncic) is a young man who lives in the provinces of Yugoslavia and who has his heart set on becoming a great pianist making music for humanity, and nothing less than that. His companions at the Belgrade Academy of Music are not beset by the same economic deprivation as Rados, and they spend their time in effete pursuits, romantic liaisons, parties, and generally egocentric behavior. Rados' simmering anger starts to heat up when he sees the enormous gap between the pretensions of the students and the nature of brilliantly composed music. When he finally does vent his opinions, he is ostracized as rudely as possible. Just when everything looks fairly glum, his beloved grandfather shows up with a piano for him, and Rados is inspired to compose once again. In the meantime, he is sidetracked by his forced sexual engagements with his landlady (in lieu of rent), and is distracted that his schoolmates seem more interested in that side of him than in his qualities as a composer. He begins to lose heart, knowing he will have to decide whether to accept the status quo and live with it, or abandon his aspirations entirely.