The Sun and the Shadow

A Bulgarian youth and a foreign girl meet at a Bulgarian seaside resort. They like each other and joking begin first a word game, and then another game called ‘The Pope Is Ill’. It turns out, however, that it is not the Pope who is really ill, but the girl’s father, an eminent western nuclear physicist who is terminally ill with cancer. His daughter is scared to death of the possible nuclear Armageddon, which has repeatedly been discussed in her presence. Gradually the carefree beach side mood is replaced by a serious conversation rich in implied meanings. A series of ‘visions’ reveals the view of each of two young people, which turn out to be very different. The girl imagines the apocalyptic end of the world, while the boy thinks of the evolution of life from its origins to the colonization of other space.