The 1937 trial of communist journalists, working for the same student magazine in Vilnius, is shown through the tragic life of the paper's young collaborator Julek Szulc.

A young doctor from the lower classes is helped in his career by a rich woman. When he comes back from study in Paris he takes a job at a watering spa. He comes up against the owners when he tries to help the poor.

Andrzej and Grzegorz are students of Warsaw Conservatory and preparing for the International Piano Competition. Eva - a beautiful Grzegorz's girlfriend is seriously ill, the doctors suspect she has brain cancer. Even for the sake of health and life of his beloved Grzegorz disagrees to miss even a single day of preparation for the contest. Andrzej has a girlfriend Zosia (the daughter of a professor of music), but the young pianist falls in love with Grzegorz's girlfriend and takes care of the sick Eve.

Young man struggles with being rejected by society.

The ‘Żywe kamienie’ (meaning living stones) from the title are architectural monuments that convey the history of past generations. In this respect, Kraków is a special city - it was not only the royal capital of Poland, but also a city of Jews.

Major Henryk "Hubal" Dobrzański refuses to surrender to the Germans in the wake of the 1939 campaign and continues to lead his regiment in guerilla warfare against the invaders.