A half century of history in the Balkans is dramatized in this 4 part miniseries of 360 minutes total duration. Episode 1 takes us from the 1890s to 1914. In 1892, the Ottoman Empire is being threatened by patriotic nationalists. In Goricka, the lord of the region celebrates the birth of his heir, Zufikar, receiving the name of the prestigious family's founder. The boy is brought up regally, and graduates from the University of Salonika (at the time Turkish). There he befriends a young Greeek, Takis. Zufikar then returns home, where he again meets Esma, the mill owner's daughter, a childhood acquaintance. Passion erupts between "Z" and Esma. Disagreeing over Esma's sense of virtue, "Z" leaves her without knowing she is carrying his child. Alone and abandoned, Esma marries the coach driver Mustafa, to avoid the disgrace of being a single mother. "Z", in an attempt to forget Esma marries Myriam, a Jewish refugee from Salonika In Episode 2, World War II erupts in the Balkans, then extends all over Europe. In the
