In the hot summer, a young man, Tomáš Sinek, is about to go "strawberry picking" in England. It seems that the family - father, mother and grandmother have no other worries than to send their offspring on the trip, although - as it seems - not everyone agrees with his decision. However, the situation is not so simple. It is Czechoslovakia in 1968. Tomáš spends a night with his friends and his girlfriend Tanya before their departure. In the morning, however, his father's suspicious phone calls with his colleague Vrana begin, full of secret information, his mother is making supplies and his grandmother is crying. Tomáš rushes to the station, but Prague is deserted and no trains are running. He doesn't consider the situation to be serious, so he is not too worried about the delay for a day. But on that August morning, the fate of thousands of people changed radically. It was August 21, 1968, and in a few moments the life of Tomáš, his family and his friends would turn around.
Honza Marak has long since abandoned a career in IT and has bought a cottage on the outskirts of a small village, where he’s settled in with his wife Marketa, daughter Anyna and son Sayen. He works in the woods as a forest labourer repairing roads and enclosures, cutting wood to sell and assisting the foresters. Marketa earns a living as a masseuse and alternative healer, making use of various mind-altering plants and mushrooms, which leads to conflict with the old inhabitants and eventually with drug enforcement. Daughter Anyna attends a distant school where her grades deteriorate as she wanders the woods learning from nature rather than from her textbooks.
The end of summer in the film also means the end of life. Vladimír Holas dies. Who is Vladimír Holas? Painter, sculptor and teacher of district importance. He painted many beautiful pictures - but not as great as he wished. He wasn't in the party, he wasn't in the Union of Artists, he didn't sell out to the past regime. The house in the beautiful countryside is his last refuge, death is inevitable and he doesn't want to die in an estranged hospital. He wants to crouch standing up, the way he lived.
ANNA ALEXANDROVNA BARKOVA (1901-1976) Journalist and poet, meeting suspicious characters. Involved in immoral love affairs. Work in the Kremlin, fired. 1934 - Arrested, 5 years of penal servitude in Karaganda. Lived in Ukraine during the WWII. 1946 - Arrested, 5 years of penal servitude in the Komi Republic. 1956 - Rehabilitated, disability pension. 1957 - Arrested, 10 years of penal servitude. The film 8 Heads of Madness is about the eternal struggle between the artist and external circumstances, the artist and her demons and longings. 8 Heads of Madness is a drama woven from fragments of an appalling era. An unhappy cross-section of the 20th century in an unhappy country, as seen through the sensitive, perceptive vision of a poet.
After losing his parents, a young Jewish boy wanders Eastern Europe, seeking refuge during World War II.
The life story of Marta Kubišová as a musical, broadcast live from the Summer Stage of the Kampa Museum in Prague, based on real events in the life of Marta Kubišová. On stage, we meet not only the two remaining Golden Kids, but also Jan Němec, Jan Moravec, Alexander Dubček, and Václav Havel.