These Are the Rules

Ante is a village fella who arrives in Zagreb to study at the faculty of forestry.

Upon arriving at a Catholic boarding school, the boy feels an antipathy to the religious practices the school imposes. However, students and teachers find the boy rather strange and harass him.

Peter and Martina are a tourist couple on a vacation on the Croatian coast. Both are successful and in their prime. However, the couple is going through a crisis. Both are frustrated and unsatisfied with their lives. They hope this vacation will help save their relationship. They both hope that this, long expected vacation will improve their relationship. They go on a mountain trip, and they get lost. Far from their usual comfort, confronted with the raw nature, they are left with no other option but to face one another...

Mirjana is returning to Croatia from Germany where she spent some time as a refugee. She is pregnant. Now, when the war in Croatia is over and her visa expired, Mirjana is coming back to her family in a remote and devastated village. Her family is trying to move on with their lives after the war. They rebuild their house and they are trying to find a new husband for their pregnant daughter. Being patriarchal and devoted to their tradition they believe a woman needs to have a husband and a child has to have a father. Of course, the child and the father have to be of the same nationality. Problems start when Mirjana gives a birth to a boy with Asian features. The family and the neighbors are shocked. Mirjana¡¦s rigid father refuses to accept a grandchild of a different nationality, not to mention the one of a different race! Mirjana and her son are forced to leave. She returns only when her father falls seriously ill and requests to see his grandson before he dies.

Two young hicks from Dalmatian hinterland are coming to Split in order to spend the night and pick local girls. In the meantime, Ive Dumanic, a brewery worker, has just lost his job after accidentally mixing beer with tonic.

The film follows Ibro (Emir Hadžihafizbegović) and his son Armin (Armin Omerović), who travel from a small town in Bosnia to a film audition in Zagreb, hoping to land a part for Armin in a German film about the war in Bosnia. On their way to fulfilling the boy's dream, they encounter a series of disappointing setbacks — their bus to Zagreb breaks down and they are late for the audition. After Ibro convinces the director to give the boy a second chance, they soon realize that Armin is too old for the part anyway. As it becomes obvious that Armin's dream of playing a part in the movie will never happen, he feels increasingly disheartened, while Ibro's determination to help his son grows. Finally they do get another chance, but Armin buckles under the pressure and experiences an epileptic seizure. As they get ready to head back to Bosnia, the film crew makes an unexpected offer, but when Ibro refuses, Armin at last realizes how much his father really loves him.