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The story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of any kind but is always on the verge of turning into a more coherent human being, only to be slapped down. It begins with the hero's childhood. Then comes the first love marred by his unwilling involvement in fascict politics, him being taken for a Jew because of his nose. Later he decides to join the army to charm the girl, but arrives too late for any fighting. He is arrested by entering German troops while he dresses in officer's uniform and mistakenly sent to POW camp as an officer.

Story opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.

Convict Kramer manages to escape from prison. Before leaving for Switzerland, he wants to take revenge on Kwinto, the man who sent him to jail.

The last days of the avant-garde playwright and painter Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, widely known as Witkacy, following the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939.

An old colonel learns he did not give ten medals he was supposed to during WW2. He decides to do it now with the help of his son.

A study of the customs of a provincial town, presented on the day of indulgence, enabling the presentation of a gallery of various types. Indulgence in a small town. Gallery of characters, kaleidoscope of events. There is a fight for the apartment of a deceased teacher, a wandering photographer is courting a widow, a patrol catches a soldier without a pass who wanted to have fun with a girl, firemen are organizing a lavish drinking party, pardon vendors are making great deals, there is a wedding in a family of upstarts. However, the bride's sister, Zoska, cannot stand the quarrelsome atmosphere of her family and environment; he rebels and runs away with his boy to the big city. The film originally had an ending suggesting that breaking out of this circle was impossible - the car in which the young people escape breaks down and a horse drags them back to the town.

Young PZPR activist gets in conflict with corrupt district party dignitaries.