The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.

Tomek comes from the so-called good family. However, she cannot find a common language with her parents. They are not very interested in what their child is doing. Tomek falls in love with nurse Ania, who becomes pregnant. He is friends with Mariusz, who is a member of his team. Mariusz lives in an orphanage. There he has problems with a certain drug addict. Tomek wants to help him, but his parents don't like it. They want Tomek to break off contacts with Ania and Mariusz. They believe that this is not company for their son.

A famous Polish journalist presents a problem for the powers-that-be when he displays his full political skill and knowledge on a television show featuring questions and answers on a world conference by a panel of journalists. His enemies take away his privileges when he is away. The shock of being "unwanted" parallels a deeper disappointment in his private life: his wife has an affair with a jealous young rival, and after 15 years of marriage and two daughters wants a divorce. She offers no explanations as he tries to untie these problems himself. All the moves he makes are the wrong ones. He takes on drinking heavily with students eager to attend his seminar after discovering the class has been canceled. The journalist, once suave and commanding, is reduced to silence.