The main character of the film has just received her dream apartment in an old tenement house. However, it is not allowed to enjoy it for too long. When he returns home with the child, it turns out that the tenement house has disappeared. The woman's goal is to find her own home.
During a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks. The fugitives hide out in a rural inn, terrified that they may be given away at any moment.
Two brothers of German heritage live in the Polish town of Poznan. Michal is the sensitive brother who likes literature, Andrzej is the daredevil with no intellectual bent, and between the two of them, they steal the German consul's Daimler-Benz limousine, on a lark. When they are caught by the police, the German consul unexpectedly forgives them their prank -- but in the meantime, the episode has put the brothers in touch with a Nazi underground group who want to prepare the way for the pending German invasion (set to occur within a matter of days). Andrej helps the group kill the German consul and then they blame the death on the Poles -- giving the Germans an excuse to cross the border. Not only the consul, but "artistic" types like Michal are also killed for the same reasons. After these murders, Michal realizes his brother is no better than the group he joined, and decides to set his own course in the face of the rising threat of invasion.
주인공이 긴 기차 여행을 한 후에 도착한 요양원은 조그만 다리와 검은 숲을 통과한 곳에 위치하며 검은 개들이 출몰한다. 요양원 마을에서 시간은 제멋대로 흘러간다. 사람들은 죽음과도 같은 잠에 빠져들어 몇 시간, 혹은 며칠씩을 듬성듬성 잃어버린다. 주인공은 마을에서 도망쳐 나오지만, 이미 모래시계 속에 갇혀버린 듯, 그에게 탈출구는 없다.
