Set just prior to the Orwellian year 1984, Pupendo is a bittersweet comedy focusing on several tragicomic incidents in the life of two families, in the former socialist Czechoslovakia. Bedrich Mara is a once prominent Prague sculptor of uncompromising political opinions whose artistic career is cut short by the Communist regime. The bohemian artist has been barred from exhibiting his work and was deliberately overlooked for lucrative orders. Bitter and mostly drunk, Mara lives in a small cottage on Prague’s riverbank and with the help of his devoted wife Alena, supports his family producing ceramic kitsch for tourists. In contrast, Magda, once Mara’s student at the Art Academy, and her husband, elementary school principal Mila, decided not to give the regime a reason to pick on them. When Mara is talked into accepting a humiliating commission from the state as a means of reviving his career, the fortunes of the four adults become intertwined. Their struggle to keep their consciences clean and put bread on the table are observed by their bewildered teenage offspring who dream of a refuge from the complications of daily life.