After Poland won freedom from of its long overlordship by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it took a further four years for its National Assembly to elect Gabriel Narutowicz as its first president. Narutowicz was a professor who until his election had been living in Switzerland. Those were chaotic times, and shortly after his election, he was assassinated by right-wing fanatics. This epic Polish film chronicles the circumstances of Narutowicz's election and assassination.
The young Kuriata takes the position of the secretary of the City Committee in Grodów, where a corrupt clique ruled for many years. Kuriata begins to introduce competent people to managerial functions, which is enthusiastically received by workers who want changes for the better.
A biology professor, Adam, after several dizzy spells, enters a hospital for observation. He is a loner and a serious-minded man, who dislikes any display of emotions. He spends three months in the hospital while being tested. After observing patients and hospital routines around him from a distance, he learns that he will need a kidney transplant. Meanwhile his personal and professional life is falling apart: he refuses his wife's offer to donate the kidney for him; the scientific problem he was working on has been solved elsewhere. In the end Adam cracks under the prolonged pressure, waiting for the sound of an ambulance bringing a moribund patient whose kidney may be used for the transplant.
The last stage of the Cycling Race Dookoła Polski: Kielce - Warsaw. The fate of the race is at stake: the Polish team still has a chance to win, it is not far from the leading Hungarian national team, in which great cyclist Haranda rides in the yellow jersey. Only the best Pole - Popiel - can take it from him. But he is a competitor - individualist, unruly and undisciplined ...