A boy named Kosta is born. At 9, his father compels him to quit school and work for the family pottery. Undiscouraged, Kosta studies nightly, nurturing a love for literature, especially poetry and communism.
Kosta and friends escape trouble with drunk police. Later, he attends a Communist Party Congress in Dresden but is arrested at the Austrian border on his return. After 3 months, Kosta returns home to find an army service invitation.
