Summary

Lara is an unpretentious and cheerful young woman of great natural beauty. She is about to complete her piano studies in Split, where she lives alone and supports herself with a part-time job for a catering service. At a party where she is employed by the catering service, she meets Jakov, also known as Jaša, a young man from a distinguished Split family.

Jaša has just come back after completing his education abroad, and the Zlatar family hosts this party in his honour. His father wants to use this opportunity to announce that Jaša is to take over the family business, but Jaša seems to be more interested in the young woman he met in the kitchen and he pretends not to be part of the family. Jaša and Lara have eyes only for each other and they stay together during the masked ball. After a night of passionate love in the garden they are found out by his mother Nela, who makes Lara leave the house. Jaša does not challenge his mother but he does rush after embarrassed Lara to ask forgiveness.

Meanwhile, Jaša's mother makes pressure on his father insisting that his son must soon find a suitable girl that would be right for him. She is obsessed with the family image and the continued future of the old and reputable Split family. Convinced that Jaša must still be seeing Lara, she tries to ruin her future career. Conflicts start in the Zlatar family over Lara. Seeking a way to escape the pressure of his authoritarian family, Jaša decides to leave the family firm and start a new life on his own.

Jaša's father was expected to leave on one of the cargo ships he owns, and feeling guilty for keeping him at home, Jaša wants to take his place on the ship and leave. Overwhelmed with love, Jaša and Lara say their good-byes just before he is to leave, and Jaša asks Lara to marry him and wait for his return. After a secret wedding, he takes her home and asks the family to accept her into the family as his wife. Jaša leaves and Lara remains alone in a home where no one knows her but will try to make her miserable as she tries to cope with the world where all is wrong except her solitary moments of gazing far across the sea... and waiting for Jaša to come back to her.
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