At the beginning of World War I, Serb Filip, the principal of a school in a Serbian province, gets drafted. Before he leaves, he wants to find somebody to take care of his wife Lea, a young and good-looking rhythmics and dance teacher he met when he was studying in Western Europe. The only person who accepts his proposal is Azem, an illiterate and patriarchal Albanian, a school janitor. Azem gives Filip a besa (a word of honour he guarantees for with his life) to take care of his wife...