Summer, 1945, the end of World War II. Tadeusz, a Polish soldier from whom the war has taken everything, finds himself in Mazury, a land that before the war belonged to Germany and after the war was recognized as Polish territory. He finds the widow of a German soldier whose death he witnessed. The widow, Róza, who lives by herself in a large house, receives Tadeusz coldly but allows him to stay for the night. Over time, Tadeusz learns more about Róza's life... Having demined the vegetable garden and getting to know the other residents, he tries to help raise the household, wants to get over the war and live the life of an ordinary person. However, everything is very complicated — and, although the war is over, not all people have retained their humanity — many, having experienced the horrors of war, are so calloused that, regardless of any laws of human society and conscience, continue to rob, kill, rape. Protecting Róza from the brutal lawlessness, Tadeusz himself becomes a victim of bandits and the ubiquitous KGB...