Shadows of the Past tells the story of a Russian dissident who protested the invasion, the daughter of one of the hundreds of people killed by the invading soldiers, a Soviet soldier who played an active role in the invasion and a Czech driver who witnessed the shootings. The stories of these everyday people, playing out in the background of a decision by powerful politicians, are a confrontation of motivations, attitudes, judgements and also of the repercussions they faced for their decisions. All this from todays perspective forty years later.