Etam, a young man from a small town in Lailonia, plucks pears from a neighbor's tree for his friend Nita. He is branded with a red patch on his pants for the theft. It soon turns out that the patch is contagious. Red patches appear on the pants of all Etam's friends. The patches get bigger and the boys wear a big red patch instead of pants. So they decide to pretend that they have red pants. When they come to school, however, the Teacher sees red patches instead of pants. He tells them to return to school only when they have pants. The boys, on Nita's advice, make holes in the patches and sew the real colored patches onto them. To the boys' surprise, the Teacher at school accepts the patched pants. He explains to them that the previous day they had red patches, and now they have patched pants. This is because it is possible to patch pants, while patches cannot be patched.

A young peasant girl, Antonina, emigrates for bread to Canada. She stays with her uncle, who offers her marriage, but Antonina does not accept the offer. She marries a farmer from a nearby village, surreptitiously puts away pennies to pennies and sends to Poland, her son to build a house. When her husband finds out, he catcalls her in a rage and throws her out. She returns to the country, and what does she find?

A veteran returns home for his father's funeral, only to find himself waging a new war when horrifying secrets come to light.