While you're here

Martina has never believed in fateful encounters. She is independent, active, and used to being in control of her life. But then she comes across the Instagram profile of Honza, a young athlete whose photographs make him seem like someone who has never had a bad day. Curiosity prompts her to send him a seemingly innocent question: “What would you do if you knew you only had one year left to live?” Honza replies simply: “I guess I’d fall in love.”

A few messages gradually turn into a relationship. Honza and Martina could hardly be more different. She loves plans and certainty, while he lives in the moment, constantly trying to convince her that the best things in life happen when you stop trying to control everything. Their relationship grows out of ordinary moments – getting lost, taking spontaneous trips with no destination in mind, laughter, arguments over dinner, or a summer canoeing trip with friends. It is in these seemingly insignificant moments that something begins to take shape, something they both come to recognize as their true home.

But then the first subtle signs appear that something is wrong with Honza. Medical examinations follow, eventually leading to a diagnosis of ALS. The world they have built together begins to change. Things that seemed effortless only yesterday become difficult. Honza gradually loses his strength, mobility, and independence.

Martina tries to carry on with their life together, refusing to accept that the illness must dictate what they can still experience. Honza, however, experiences the disease differently. The more he loves Martina, the more he fears trapping her in his suffering. He begins to push her away. He cancels their plans, becomes irritable, withdraws into himself, and eventually convinces her to leave.

For the first time, Martina seriously considers starting over without him. But she also comes to understand that Honza’s struggle is not just a battle with the disease. It is a fight for the right to decide what will happen to the rest of his life.

When Martina returns to him, their relationship takes on a new meaning. They no longer try to restore their life to what it was before the illness. Instead, they learn to live differently. Honza can no longer run, but he can travel. He cannot walk to the places he once loved, but Martina can take him there. They cannot do everything they used to, but they can still laugh, love, and be together. A new kind of intimacy develops between them, based less on what a person is capable of doing and more on who they are to each other.

Yet Honza is still keeping one secret. He has been thinking about death and the possibility of ending his life before the disease takes complete control of his body. Martina knows nothing about it.

Martina takes Honza on a trip to their favourite places in nature. But these joyful final days of the trip are disrupted when Honza confesses that he has been planning euthanasia. After returning home, the subject becomes the focus of their discussions and disagreements.

Just as they are planning a visit to the clinic, Martina discovers that she is pregnant.

The pregnancy changes their perspective on the future. Alongside their fears, a new reason to live emerges. They prepare a nursery, choose a name, and make plans that Honza has not dared to think about for a long time. The disease does not disappear, but their life takes on a new direction.

In the delivery room, Honza holds Martina’s hand. He is exhausted, and his body barely allows him to be the man he once was. Yet he remembers their very first message. Back then, Martina asked him what he would do if he knew he had only one year left to live.

Honza leans towards her and repeats his answer from long ago: “I guess I’d fall in love.”

A few hours later, their daughter Eliška is born.