Franz Maurer, a compromised cop, former officer of the criminal department of the Warsaw's police, is released from prison where he was doing time for his brutality and murders. He is awaited by Nowy, a former police colleague. Franz tries to go straight starting hard work in a steel mill. Nevertheless, he must leave the factory as a criminal with an uncertain past when he doesn't join the strike organized by the workers' union. At the same time, a merciless war continues in former Yugoslavia. Wolf and William, two high rank officers, come to Poland in order to organize a network selling and smuggling arms to Yugoslavia by way of Albania.
Oskar Schindler, un hombre de enorme astucia y talento para las relaciones públicas, organiza un ambicioso plan para ganarse la simpatía de los nazis. Después de la invasión de Polonia por los alemanes, consigue, gracias a sus relaciones con los nazis, la propiedad de una fábrica de Cracovia. Allí emplea a cientos de operarios judíos, cuya explotación le hace prosperar rápidamente. Su gerente, también judío, es el verdadero director en la sombra, pues Schindler no tiene el menor conocimiento industrial.
