I Served the King of England

As Jan Dítě (Jan) readjusts to life outside prison walls, he finds himself consumed by nostalgia for his past. The once-convict now dedicates his days to rebuilding a neglected home, allowing memories of his former life to resurface. His greatest aspiration? To become a millionaire, a goal that drives him to pursue new opportunities. Jan's journey begins at a railroad station, where he takes on the role of a frankfurter vendor, quickly discovering the profound influence money can have over people.

As the past and present continue to intertwine, a young woman named Marcela and her seasoned traveling companion, a professor, settle into the area. Jan finds himself drawn to Marcela, but their mutual attraction remains unrequited for now. Meanwhile, flashbacks of his younger self reveal a string of romantic entanglements with various women, including an actress and a prostitute at a brothel. His professional life also sees a meteoric rise, with stints at a spa, the Hotel Tichota, where he indulges in another affair with a maid.

Eventually, Jan lands a job at Prague's prestigious Hotel Paříž, where he falls under the guidance of the enigmatic Maître d', Skřivánek. A man of grand tales, Skřivánek claims to have once served the King of England himself. However, it is Jan who ultimately earns the favor of the Emperor of Ethiopia, standing in for Skřivánek during a medal presentation. As the Emperor struggles to bestow the honor around Skřivánek's neck due to his diminutive stature, Jan seizes the opportunity, cleverly receiving the medal on behalf of his mentor.

As Nazi Germany's grip on Czechoslovakia tightened following the annexation of Czech territory, a complex web of emotions unfolded in the life of Jan, a young waiter who fell deeply in love with Liza, a zealous Sudeten German woman enamored with Adolf Hitler. Her condition for marriage was that he prove his Aryan purity through a medical examination, which he successfully passed. Meanwhile, the hotel staff, led by Brandejs, responded to the occupation by deliberately withholding assistance from their new oppressors, an act of quiet defiance in the face of tyranny. Jan, however, refused to participate in this symbolic resistance, earning him the ire of his colleagues and ultimately leading to his dismissal by Brandejs, who vowed to blacklist him from any Prague establishment.

As the war raged on, Jan found himself working at a facility that had once been the Hotel Tichota, where German women were housed with the intention of breeding a superior "master race" through selected soldiers. The owner, Mr. Tichota, wheelchair-bound and displaced from his role, was never seen again. Liza, meanwhile, served as a nurse on the Russian front, returning home to claim valuable stamps looted from the homes of Polish-Jewish families. As Germany's fortunes waned and the tide turned against them, the facility's residents were evacuated, replaced by wounded and amputee soldiers. The war's end brought chaos, with the facility attacked and the soldiers and staff forced to flee. Amidst the destruction, Liza perished in a tragic accident while attempting to rescue the precious stamps from the burning building.

In the aftermath of the war, Jan discovered Liza's lifeless body, clutching the valuable stamp collection, which he managed to retrieve as the flames engulfed her. As the stamps' value soared, Jan leveraged their worth to build a new life as a hotelier on the same premises where his tumultuous journey had begun.

When the Communist Party seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Jan's world was turned upside down once more. His wealth and property were confiscated after he boasted about being a millionaire to the Communist resistance, earning him a 15-year prison sentence – one year for each of his supposed millions. Behind bars, Jan encountered familiar faces from his past, including Brandejs and other former patrons, who now regarded him as an outsider.

As Marcela and the professor departed the area, Jan devoted himself to restoring his childhood home and finally released the stamps to the mercy of the winds, allowing them to drift into the valley.