The document describes the preparations and organizational problems related to the outbreak of the Kościuszko Insurrection and the initial phase of the fighting to the Battle of Racławice. He also devotes a lot of space to the peasant question.

Young Marcin wishes to escape his life in a village and make a career in a city.

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.

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.