Based on Witold Gombrowicz's novel Ferdydurke

Freed Polish soldiers are trapped in a small town in Germany during the last days of World War II. After a doctor's daughter is raped by a concentration camp worker, the Poles allow her and her father to stay in the house that is their temporary quarters. While waiting to be repatriated, the war-weary group is forced to fight some German soldiers who invade the town. The war brings out conflicting emotions of the Poles who find themselves trapped in the house and once again under fire from the enemy.

In war-ravaged Warsaw, five juvenile delinquents are given probation for stealing, to rehabilitate themselves, but remain under the influence of their profiteer-boss.

　　 小伊丽莎白是犹太人，父母都被关进了集中营，一位好心的裁缝把她藏了起来。盖世太保即将开始大搜捕，必须给她搞到一张假的出生证明，裁缝找到了一对年轻的天主教徒夫妇。约定的时间到了，这对夫妇显出犹豫的神情，终于，妻子说，他们很遗憾，不能为伊丽莎白提供假证明。最后裁缝找人带孩子逃离了波兰。此后的二十几年，伊丽莎白一直生活在沉重的负担里，她一心想找寻对她有恩的裁缝和亏欠她的夫妇，于是以研究学者的身份回到了华沙。那对夫妇中的丈夫已死，妻子索菲亚是大学哲学系的教授。面对伊丽莎白，索菲亚讲述了多年来折磨着自己的负疚；而当伊丽莎白找到了裁缝，他却避而不提从前的事，只问她做什么衣服。