1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.
A sociologist nearing middle-aged returns to Poland after several years of giving lectures abroad. The changing economy of the country and business successes of the people around him inspire him to venture out into the deep and unpredictable world of capitalism himself.