In 1946, a former resistance fighter starts working as a forester in a small town in Masuria. The local people don't trust him, robberies are common and his old flame is married to another man.

During a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks. The fugitives hide out in a rural inn, terrified that they may be given away at any moment.

Jozef visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father. Jozef undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the sanatorium, each which conjures worlds composed of his memories, dreams and nightmares.