A two-part historical film covering the years of the First World War and the post-war period up to 1919 - until the signing of the peace treaty in Versailles near Paris. An attempt to show the great and complicated process of regaining an independent existence by a nation within its own state. The screen shows characters from history textbooks: Józef Piłsudski, Ignacy Paderewski, Roman Dmowski, Wojciech Korfanty as well as representatives of the world political scene, incl. David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, Vladimir Lenin and others.
After Poland won freedom from of its long overlordship by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it took a further four years for its National Assembly to elect Gabriel Narutowicz as its first president. Narutowicz was a professor who until his election had been living in Switzerland. Those were chaotic times, and shortly after his election, he was assassinated by right-wing fanatics. This epic Polish film chronicles the circumstances of Narutowicz's election and assassination.
Janek and Wanda live in a small room in a villa, while other rooms are occupied by offices of various institutions. Janek often stays at work after hours, just to avoid returning to the cramped apartment too early. One day, a man named Malinowski, who once lived in the same small room, visits the couple. He proposes to exchange their room for a new, two-room apartment that he has just received. Janek and Wanda are initially distrustful, but eventually, the exchange takes place. It turns out that Wanda's ex-husband, Jerzy, already lives in the new apartment. Despite the divorce, as he is registered with Wanda, he has the right to continue living in her apartment. Janek tries to find a way to get rid of the intruder.
The young couple love each other. The boy is in constant work which will fit him, and in the end becomes a petty thief who cannot pay his debts anymore and decides to steal from homes where he pays scheduled visits to lonely housewifes. The girl works a nurse but is too sensitive in extreme cases. Running parallel to their story is a metaphor involving a castaway on a junkyard, who tries every means possible to get rid of the dog which becomes attached to him. In the end he attaches sticks of dynamite to the dog, but he breaks loose and the explosion wipes them both.