本片由几个初看起来并无关系的线索汇聚而成:一个律师本应为因组织罢工而被捕的团结工会积极分子辩护,不幸于出庭前死去,案件交由一个老律师处理。老律师热衷与人争论道德的可疑性问题。那个积极分子在各方面的重重压力下死去。同时,那个已故律师的妻子感到青春的虚空,沉溺于同其他男人的爱欲之中,但肉体的满足并不能代替精神的寂寞,最后在绝望中,她拧开煤气自杀。It's 1982: Poland is under martial law, and Solidarity is banned. Ulla, a translator working on Orwell, suddenly loses her husband, Antek, an attorney. She is possessed by her grief, and Antek continues to appear to her. She seeks to free herself in her work, in her relationship with her son, in sex, and in hypnosis. In a subplot, Ulla refers the wife of one of her husband's clients - Darek, a jailed Solidarity strike organizer - to Labrador, a world-weary, aging attorney, who works to free Darek by various political manipulations and psychological ploys.