Based on Victor Hugo's famed novel, the story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre Dame, and his unrequited love for the gypsy girl, Esmeralda.

This is a film about ordinary civilians, who on June 26, 1991, the day when war broke out in former Yugoslavia, find themselves in Slovenia. The main character of the story is an 11-year-old boy, Felix, who is trapped together with his classmates and teacher Jasna in an unmoving column of vehicles on a high mountain road, because of army barricades. The heroes of the story are involuntarily caught between the two enemy military groups. On this day in June, many others find themselves on this road together with the pupils on their school bus - people from various European countries who are traveling south: Frenchmen, Italians, Hungarians, Germans, and, of course, Slovenians; a blend of different professions, nationalities and religions. All of them are individuals who, on a warm summer day, suddenly find themselves in the midst of war.

In Budapest, two Americans live together. Adam, a former Manhattan prosecutor at work on his first novel, and Lisa, a cool hard-working financier who idolizes her boss (former Communist turned deal maker, Kovacs) as she tires of Adam's lifestyle. Cut to the subway, where two tough guys are pursuing Marta, a blond waif. She manages to surprise one of them in a hallway, dispatching him with a straight razor, and she barges into Adam's apartment to elude the other. She tells Adam why she is running, a story that implicates Kovacs, and she seeks Adam's help and affection. He takes her side, and slowly Lisa, Adam, Kovacs, Marta, and her pursuer draw toward a showdown.