A peasant family boy, Michal Toporny, was not destined to follow in his father's footsteps and lead a farmer life. When the second world war broke out, he took an underground course in general education and, when the liberation of Poland came bringing sweeping social reforms in its wake, he enrolled in a school of higher learning and graduated with flying colors.
The film picks up momentum as Michal, the graduate, propelled by his aspirations, walks out on his family, his peasant wife and son and his rural environment, to marry a society girl from Wieslawa Jarzecka. To her he personifies rural vitality and determination. On the other hand, he regards his new marriage as a means of bridging a century long cultural gap between his and Wieslawa's social environment. Toporny is rapidly climbing the rungs of his career and soon is promoted to be a vice-director of a mining union.
However, his relationship runs into a crisis. Seeing him constantly absorbed in work, Wieslawa becomes bored with him and develops a love affair with Michal's subordinate, the young and handsome engineer Zatorski, who is a far more cultured man than her husband. When Michal is given to understand, at a party, that there are some barriers he's unable to cross, he slaps Zatorski in the face and becomes an even greater looser for his wife.
The time comes when Toporski resolves to take care of the education of his long abandoned son, Stas. he sends him to school and checks on his progress and also is busy improving the level of his own knowledge.
But his incessant efforts ruin his health and he suffers a stroke, his marriage collapses as well. Returning home after a hospitalization, he finds he's been left with his sons only. Trying to recover the bonds he once rejected, Michal takes a car ride with the children, only to find out his old house is being pulled down...
AWARDS
1977 - Grand Prix of the Polish Feature Film Festival, Gdansk, Poland
1978 - Jury Special Award, San Remo Film Festival, Italy
Actress Beata Tyszkiewicz - "The Dancing Hawk".