A classical singer who put his career on hold to raise a family gets a big break when a major company hires him for a televised New Year's Eve concert, but his shot at fame is threatened when, against his better judgment, he goes out on a rainy night and gets a cold.
Zofia, a professor of ethics, is visited by Elżbieta, an American researching the fate of Jews who survived World War II. A daytime classroom conversation turns into a night of confrontation, and Zofia is forced to answer for a decision she made decades ago that directly affected the course of Elżbieta’s life.
The young protagonist, Elżbieta, grew up in a small town bourgeois house. She rebels against the town's atmosphere and imagines that a love affair with a poet from a big city will liberate her. However, the love affair lasts only for a fleeting moment. It is the young engineers who arrive in the town to build a factory who are the real harbinger of changes in the town itself and the minds of its inhabitants. Based on a novel by Kornel Filipowicz.
Uma mulher alemã está em um navio voltando para sua terra natal na Europa. Durante a viagem, vê uma mulher cujo rosto lhe traz lembranças de seu passado cheio de tragédias. Quando ela conta ao marido sobtre a mulher que salvou no passado, o filme mostra ao espectador os acontecimentos.