After the split of Czechoslovakia in 1992 former political dissident, playwright and outspoken essayist Václav Havel became the first president of a new country, the Czech Republic. A former enemy of the state and leader of the Velvet Revolution, Havel was given a popular mandate to transform that state and its institutions. On taking his new office, Havel invited his friend the documentarist Pavel Koutecký to capture the birth of their new nation. Filmed over ten years, this understated, witty and considered documentary gives a fascinating insight into Czech politics and the man who helped shape the history of the new republic.