Takes place on an ocean liner from Canada to Poland. It is a story of several people with pasts and problems stemming from uncomfortable confrontations. The main confrontation is between a Polish doctor with a heart condition meeting a man he knew before. Neither of them was willing to admit their differences from the college days. The meeting torments the doctor enough to start him drinking and dying of a heart attack.

A married couple from the city goes to a lodge for the summer. Despite the idyllic surroundings, the woman is more and more anxious. The locals tell the story of a sunken tourist, the husband ignores his wife's growing fear. Meanwhile, a stranger comes to the house.

A Polish lieutenant from the Royal Air Force comes home with his British wife and faces political persecution.

Set in 1905. The story focuses on a young and inexperienced man in a revolutionary execution squad. He does his killing job out of idealism, and for the love of a woman. The young student murders a Russian spy and is afterwards arrested by the police. Much to his surprise he is released after a session with the traitor-judge, hinting at some leaks in the organisation. Student reports his suspicions back to the organisation, but in response is given a new hit mission.

A wealthy grandfather throws a party to celebrate his grandson's First Communion. Soon the family gathering takes unexpected turns.

A dramatized retelling of the life of the Romanticism painter Piotr Michałowski.

Katowice, the night of December 12-13, 1981. Military units occupy strategic points in the city. A group of Zomovniks, smashing union security, drags the chairman of the Company Commission of the NSZZ Solidarity in the Wujek mine out of his apartment. The news quickly spreads to the miners. Initially surprised, they soon react with spontaneous protest. On December 14, a strike breaks out at the plant. The miners demand the lifting of martial law and the release of the chairman. When negotiations fail, the army, ZOMO and militia storm the mine.

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Warsaw elites meet at a ball in Baron Neman's palace, where they discuss the political situation in Poland.

Christmas is an occasion for four friends to summarize the previous year of their lives.