The subject of the film is the problem of the migration of young people from the countryside to the cities in search of an easier life. The meeting of the whole family - whose paths have diverged a long time ago - with the sick father and a long conversation with him determine the final decision of the film's protagonist, Janek: he will return to where he comes from, to the countryside, to his fatherland.

Stefan Starzyński, the mayor of Warsaw, organizes life in the capital in September 1939 and lift the inhabitants' spirits via radio announcements. After the surrender, he does not use his last chance to escape.

A teenage boy from a respectable family, Stanisław Czajkowski, dies in mysterious circumstances in a Krakow guesthouse. His brother-in-law, Count Maksymilian Rotter, married to Stanisław's older sister, Ksawera, is accused of the murder.

After an accident in a smelter plant kills two workers a crane operator decides to take full responsibility.