Told across a number of years, part of the ever waging war between the police and the criminal empires spanning Eastern Europe, we follow one young man's life, his childhood and adolescence and ultimately his descent into the criminal underworld. His path soon crosses with a policeman who will stop at nothing to catch him.
Tichy is caught by a storm on the side road, and therefore forced to seek shelter in strange looking house. He is welcomed by Profesor Zazul, who devoted his life to cloning experiments. Based on a short story by Stanisław Lem featured in Memories of Ijon Tichy.
Engineer Ijon Tichy is called in to help with a malfunctioning electronic brain.