Borderlands

Kosovo, 1914. The Austro-Hungarian army has invaded the Kingdom of Serbia. The First World War has started to spread across Europe. The front is far away from the teacher's home, but still it has become an inescapable part of her life. The teacher tries to ignore it all. She hunts, teaches, and cares for her class as if nothing were wrong. But the centuries-long feud among the nations down in the valley also ignores the war. One day, the teacher's father appears at the door of her solitary schoolhouse with a prisoner - an Albanian youth, almost a child still, who has committed murder. The Serbian policeman had caught him before he could be found by the Kanun - the traditional law of blood vengeance. The teacher's father wants only one thing from her - to keep the boy hidden until tomorrow morning when he will take him for earthly judgement. When her father does not arrive the next morning, the teacher decides to take the prisoner away herself. The Albanians seeking vengeance are getting closer, and the teacher's view of her prisoner is gradually changing. Increasingly she sees him not as a murderer, but as one of the children she so lovingly cares for each day.