the story begins on the streets of prague on a grey morning busy with commuters. a colourless figure, played by petr čepek, emerges from a metro station. on his way home, the man encounters two men handing out flyers. it is a map of the city with a location marked. he shrugs and discards it, returning to his lodging. as he opens the door, a black cockerel runs out. the man sits down to eat, cutting himself a slice of bread. he discovers an egg concealed inside the loaf. he cracks it open but it is empty. suddenly the lights go out and the wind rises. objects are thrown about the room. the commotion ceases; the man goes to the window and looks down to where the two men from earlier are staring up at him. one of them holds the cockerel. the man closes the blind and returns to the table, where he finds the map and, using his own map of the city, traces out the location marked.