Thirty years after the war, Anna, a journalist from Germany, leaves for her native village in Lower Silesia, which she had to leave with her family in 1945. Here she meets Ludwik, an old love and her daughter's father.

Wiktor Wiarecki is an unsuccessful writer. He is also not successful in his personal life: Wiktor's marriage is in crisis, and his adult son wants nothing to do with his father. The turning point is the death of his friend Wiarecki, an outstanding writer Stefan Przewłocki. A literary widow gives Wiktor the materials for the deceased's last novel.

Two young boys living in a small town in the east of Poland try to survive the war by working as projectionists in a local cinema. They provide entertainment to Poles, Germans and Russians alike.