In 1908, a young member of the Polish Socialist Party is to execute a famous writer accused of collaborating with the tsarist police. He comes to Cracow and analyzes the writer's trial. He has doubts about the guilt of the future victim and his own role in the whole process. "White" is the pseudonym of Pawel Swietorzecki (Michal Bajor), a young member of the Polish Socialist Party. The action of the film takes place after the 1905 revolution in the Kingdom of Poland was suppressed. The boy executes the sentences of a secret political unit and has an affair with Ewa (Krystyna Janda), the wife of a lawyer working in the underground. "White" kills an officer of the tsarist police and is arrested. Unexpectedly, after being questioned by an investigator (Gustaw Holoubek), he is released. He is ordered to execute “Korab” (Jerzy Radziwillowicz), a writer accused of collaborating with the Okhrana. "White" goes to Cracow to analyze the writer's trial in court. He has doubts about the guilt of the future victim and his own role in the whole process. He guesses that "Korab" criticized noble and romantic Poland. What’s more, during the trial, “White” sees the investigator who released him from custody. After the trial, "Korab’s" health condition deteriorates and he gets permission to leave the country. He goes to Italy together with his wife and child. "White" follows him. At the time of the execution, "Korab" welcomes him with the following words, "You’re from Poland". “White’s” doubts are more important than obedience to the organization. "White" does not kill "Korab", however, he will become a victim of his own organization soon. Fictional characters and events overlap with true facts. "Korab" is Stanislaw Brzozowski (1878-1911), a philosopher and literary critic of the Young Poland. In 1908, he was accused of collaborating with the tsarist police, but the case remained unresolved. He died a natural death in Florence. Edward Zebrowski wrote the screenplay together with Wladyslaw Terlecki. It was based on the latter’s novel "Zwierzeta zostaly opłacone" (1980). The film is part of a series of political terror dramas that were created during the political frenzy of the late 1970s and 1980s. Other examples of the series are: Edward Zebrowski's "Passion" (1977), also based on Terlecki’s novel, "Fever" (1980) by Agnieszka Holland and "The Death Sentence" (1980) by Witold Orzechowski.
