Anna, a nurse, meets her wartime lover Marcel in 1951. Learning that he has been sentenced to death for his role in the Home Army, she hides him in her cellar for five years. She gets pregnant with his child and has the baby out of the wedlock. Despite the hardships and gossip she holds much better than he. In 1956 when the political climate changes, he resurfaces and is arrested, but then acquitted by the court.

Marcel ucieka z więzienia i ukrywa się w piwnicy dawnej miłości. Jego tropem podążają pracownicy Urzędu Bezpieczeństwa.