Directed by Henryk Szaro.

Michał Kopera has an accident at work. His relatives visiting him at the hospital are more interested in his account than in his health.

A prosecutor takes on the case of a peasant accused of murder.

Beginning of WWII. Zinaida, a Russian woman, is taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp together with several other women. She is imprisoned with her baby son, Gena, who is learning to walk and takes his first steps in the snow, in the concentration camp. They spend a few years together in the camp until they are separated, first within Auschwitz itself, then, for good, when the Germans are losing the war and decide to evacuate.

Psychological drama: a teacher's internal moral conflict, who wins the students' sympathy and respect by devising a heroic war life story.