Oil Lamps

In a small Czech town named Jilemnice lives an unfortunate but brave and jovial woman Štěpa Kiliánová, whose only desire was to fill the void in her virgin life. Out of despair and excessive trust, she marries her cousin, a sardonic, reclusive man, former lieutenant and gambler Pavel Malina, whose only wish is to find peace and forget the past. Meanwhile the groom's father and older brother are interested in Štěpa's inheritance to save their farm from ruin. The couple live through unrequited love, dislike and disappointment on Štěpa's side, since her husband does not consummate the marriage because of his Erectile dysfunction, due to the syphilis he caught in the army. No one knows about the groom's disease and his increasing signs of General paresis of the insane, which engulfs his sanity.