Tragedy befalls Hanka, as her husband and father die fighting Austrian forces invading the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809.

Set during the insurgency of 1863, the story focuses on a tragic romance between a poor gentlewoman and a rebel noble. After a bloody battle a unit of insurgents have been wiped out and only one survived, but badly wounded. He eventually finds shelter and care from a landsteward's daughter, hiding in a burned-out manor with an old servant.

A young woman runs away from her home to the big city, gets a job in theatre and gets involved with shady characters.

A grotesque fairy tale of fantasies in a 21-year old's mind. First he confesses to a priest about killing his aunt. Then he is sending parcels from the post office. Just when it appears that he is going to be arrested, the aunt appears alive and well from her trip. This time though, he decides to go for it...

A young PhD student is trying to get 34 dogs for his research.

A group of Polish boys is opposed to a German teacher who aims to Germanise the young men.

Main character, Rysiek, tries to live through dangerous times of war-torn and later stalinist Poland.

The screening of a movie "Daybreak" at the "Liberty" Cinema is interrupted by an unusual event - actors come to life on the screen, start conversations among themselves, draw the audience into them. Crowds gather around the cinema, the relevant authorities and services wonder what to do in this complicated situation. Also arriving is the censor, a man reaching his fifties, a one-time literary critic and journalist. The line between fiction and reality begins to blur.

During the "winter of the century," impatient passengers wait for the train to arrive at the station in Koluszki. Railway communications are disrupted. At the same time, a train is stuck in snowdrifts near Koluszki. The atmosphere in its carriages is cheerful. Some passengers, who are in a hurry to connect to other stations, get off and walk to the station in Koluszki. Among them is Andrzej Roszak, a young man rushing to Warsaw, and probably his peer Basia. Shortly after them, Mr. Walerek, a political activist who was on his way to a ball at the Central Committee, Mr. Rozbicki and his wife, who had just returned from a contract in Iraq, Matyjak, a television star, journalist Przoniak, and others arrive at the station in Koluszki. At the deserted station, the passengers efficiently organize a New Year's Eve party. During the revelry, the participants gradually reveal their hidden complexes, frustrations, and hopes.

To convince the prison warden against releasing him, a middle-aged Polish man recounts his life, one he considers to have been characterized by exceptionally bad luck.