Um retrato dramático e perversamente subversivo do tenso conflito entre alunos e professores em um curso de verão de linguística. Krzysztof Zanussi oferece uma crítica sutil, mas forte, à política do Partido Comunista e da precariedade do sucesso em uma sociedade socialista.
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 miners of one of the mines in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie receive news about the planned layoffs. The miners decide to organize a strike. One of the local MPs is trying to prevent this from happening. The French mine owner makes a dangerous decision - he orders the miners to work in an area at risk of fire. An explosion occurs unexpectedly. The miners lynch Coeur, and their demonstration, in which they carry the bodies of the victims of the crash, is brutally suppressed by the police.
The movie is about the fate of Polish soldier named Kaleń who fought with UPA in 1945. Set in the closing days of World War II, the film recounts the adventures of the Polish soldier caught in the turmoil among the Polish Communist army, anti-communist underground and Ukrainian fascists.
