One of the most highly regarded works in the history of Czech animation, it blends uniquely designed puppets, lavish oil paintings, and real footage of moving rats. 　　 The film is a modern adaptation of a German medieval legend, telling the story of a rat-catcher who punishes the sinful and shameless town of Hamelin. The piper fulfills the town's wish by ridding them of the rat plague, but the residents, consumed by their pursuit of ill-gotten gains, refuse to pay him his due. Greedier than the rats, the piper treats them no differently from the vermin.