This is the story of a man who graduated from high school in Czechoslovakia in 1938 and went to university at the beginning of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. After the universities were closed, he worked as a Protectorate official and was influenced by all the pitfalls of this period . After the war, he goes to work for the ministry, graduates from university, and joins the Communist Party. He does all this despite the protests of his family, who view the situation at the time negatively. He gradually climbs the career ladder, taking some steps that he finds repugnant, but which the situation requires. On the one hand, he is crushed by his environment, but on the other hand, he also uses it to his advantage. After the fall of communism in 1989, he retires and helps privatize engineering factories for his children and relatives. The book presents a view of 20th-century history through the various attitudes, actions, and conflicts of the characters in the book. History is also illustrated by the daily press of the time, so some events that are not widely known are also mentioned.