Zilha Barjaktarević is a young girl, growing up in the city of Doboj in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the post-WWII period. One of the earliest memories she has is of a local kafana (a Balkan type of tavern, with live music, food and drink) and the female singer performing there. Everyone, including her father, are obsessed with the singer’s voice and looks. When Zilha turns 16, she decides to go to Sarajevo and pursue her own singing career, running away from the typical housewife life, for which her parents (and society) prepared her. Zilha moves in with her aunt Hanka. She’s living a much more urban type of life and is very free with expressing own sexuality. Zilha, at first, only succeeds in finding a job as a waitress. When she gets fired, she accidentally finds out that her aunt’s lover – Meho – is the boss of a local kafana. The place is really shady and dirty, frequented by drunks and lowlifes, but Zilha’s happy to start her career anywhere. The things don’t go as planned. Zilha manages to gain some recognition, even from Šerbo, a bandleader in the Topola – the most famous kafana in Sarajevo. But, all of it comes with the price. Being young, beautiful and very talented, there are several men who frequent Meho’s kafana, just to watch her. She is aware of the effect she has on guests, but she gets used to playing it off. Unfortunately, they read this only as teasing from her part. Even her aunt becomes increasingly jealous because she catches Meho flirting with Zilha. One night, two of the guests who obsessed with Zilha get into a fight, trashing Meho’s kafana. Meho and aunt accuse Zilha of initiating the trouble. When Zilha is left alone with Meho, he tries to blackmail her and have sex with her, as a payback for the things “she did”. Zilha manages to escape, but even her aunt doesn’t believe that Meho tried to rape her. Zilha must leave aunt’s house, so she goes to Topola to audition for Šerbo\’s ensemble. In the meantime, she wanders into a cinema, where she watches Bitter Rice and emotionally connects with Silvana Mangano’s character, with whom she even shares a physical resemblance. Zilha manages to become a full-time singer in Topola, playing a more urban type of music with Šerbo. Topola is completely different from Meho’s kafana. There are no drunks, everybody working there is much more professional and she is well respected by the guests. She earns good money and lives in the room on the second floor of Topola. Šerbo introduces her to his young friend Safet – a handsome, rich, sweet-talking Sarajevo native. Slowly, Zilha falls for him. He is intelligent, funny and treats her with respect, introducing her to new experiences and ideas. Zilha, Safet, Šerbo and Šerbo’s girlfriend Amira start a friendship. Amira is a bit cold towards Zilha, seeing her as a ”common singer“, but she avoids starting an open conflict. Zilha decides to lose her virginity with Safet. She is over the moon with her life now. She is in love and famous singer in Sarajevo – all that she ever dreamed of. One night, Safet invites Šerbo and his wife to have dinner with Zilha and him. After the pleasant evening, Safet and Šerbo’s wife go to another room, while Šerbo and Zilha are left alone. It soon becomes obvious to Zilha that Šerbo’s flirting with her. She is offended by this because Šerbo was like an older brother to her and they had a good professional relationship. She decides to find Safet and tell him what happened. Zilha enters the room and finds him having sex with Amira. Hurt, she runs away, but Safet manages to catch her on the street. They talk and Zilha is shocked that Safet, not only knew about the plan, but he’s confused that she didn’t let Šerbo have sex with her. Zilha tries to call her father and return to Doboj. She eventually decides against it and returns to Topola. Zilha dyes her hair blonde, puts on heavy make-up, cuts up her dress and makes it, for the period, very short and with deep cleavage. Šerbo comes to her to apologize and is surprised with her sexualized look. She acts like there is no problem between the two of them and asks him to call him by her new stage name – Silvana. She sings in full kafana, while waiter changes the name on the blackboard in front of Topola. He erases Zilha and writes Silvana. This stays on the screen as the title of the movie.