Though he returned from America penniless, Nathan Stramer still daydreams of a better life. Raising six children with his wife Rywka in a poor area of Tarnów, he chases hare-brained schemes to make money while she fantasises about a trip to the seaside.

Meanwhile, their children are taking steps out into a changing world. Rudek, the eldest, sets his passions aside for a practical job; Rena falls in love with a married man, and Hesio and Salek get ever more involved with Communism.

While Nathan and Rywka try to hold the centre of their raucous family life, national conflicts begin to escalate, and something sinister creeps into the Stramers' world that they don't yet understand.