Police arrest two brothers, Artur and Martin, at their aunt's provincial motel and escort them to jail in the capital. Unfolding in flashback, the film seeks out the motives for the crime ...
When the war breaks out, renowned Polish-Jewish poet Aleksander Wat leaves Nazi-occupied Warsaw with his wife Ola and their son. In Lviv, however, they are arrested by the Russians and separated. Ola and her son are sent to Siberia.