Set in the Middle Ages the film tells the story of a wonder child, the little sculptor Wawrzek, who goes to work for a great master, Wit Stwosz. The story culminates in the unveiling of Stwosz's greatest masterpiece, the Altar of St. Mary's Church in Cracow.

A young couple wants to break free of the antagonistic nature of their home village.

Guests from America came to Poland, and there were three of them. One, a businessman, intends to buy the land from the battlefields in order to cash it for a profit abroad. The second is looking for a wife in his home village, highlander, and the third wants to visit his uncle's family. Will their trip be successful?

Rumsza, the elderly railwayman, leading a sedate life with his wife, misses his only remaining son (two older boys were killed in the war). Joziuk finally returns from the military in the first scene but with the pregnant Zosia, while Rumsza expected him to marry Celinka, the daughter of Krywka, his only friend and neighbour. The hero will not accept the new situation; he throws his son and Zosia out of his house. Celinka is distressed but she still harbours hope for Joziuk. The birth of the child changes the situation: Rumsza accepts his son's relationship but Celinka decides to leave.

The struggle between poor villagers, who are eager to build a co-operative mill and a cultural centre, and the village wealthy men - the miller and the kulaks - who are desperate to stop the farmers.

In war-ravaged Warsaw, five juvenile delinquents are given probation for stealing, to rehabilitate themselves, but remain under the influence of their profiteer-boss.

Antek is an inexperienced seaman favored by his teachers. On his first trip to the sea he learns the hardships of the work and almost causes a tragedy.