An ironic comedy set in the times of the golden communist era, based on the biography of a real, famous conman Czesław Śliwa. A game of appearances, playing different characters in a spectacular way, naivety of his surroundings and easy manipulation of the encountered people – all this in a dynamic and fascinating performance of Piotr Fronczewski set against the backdrop of business, trade, entertainment and Polish coarse luxuries.
The story unfolds on two planes – a current one – a trial of the accused Wiśniak, sued by the people he had cheated and a retrospection showing five of his scams.
The main character – Czesław Wiśniak is released from prison on parole. He visits his former girlfriend Anka, who is now dating Gruby, a tradesman from the Pomerania region. Anka doesn’t want to have anything to do with Wiśniak, who decides to take his revenge on Gruby and offers him jeans wholesale business. He doesn’t have the garments, but he comes up with a successful ruse. The character refreshes his connections, visits his old acquaintance from prison – Andrzej and wins the trust of his wife – Janka who, naively enchanted by his eloquence, lands him the job of a chief technologist. Using blackmail he gets himself a diploma of an engineer and starts work. Gruby and two thugs find him, drag him out, beat him up and throw Wiśniak out of the car. He regains consciousness in hospital where he says he’s a brother of a member of the Political Office, which helps him get comfortable conditions and good care. Anka shows up at the hospital. Wiśniak, aware that she may give away his true identity, runs away with her help and together they stay at a hotel in Warsaw. Another opportunity presents itself. By cheating the family of the taxi driver Mitura, he gets a big amount of money. His lucky streak continues. Inspired by the event from the hotel, he comes up with an idea to establish an Austrian consulate even though he knows only a few German words. He meets people who hope to get good jobs, everything is going fine, preparations for an inaugural reception are underway, when Gruby appears again and recognizes Wiśniak – the impostor. The would-be consul has to run away, he takes Anka with him and heads towards the border with the German Democratic Republic where he surrenders to the police and embarks on his new role of a political prisoner.
