A social drama showing the problems and conflicts related to the process of shaping folk awareness, visible in particular in a different interpretation of the ownership right by the people’s government and the Highlanders’ community. The film resembles a folk ballad and its aesthetics refers to naïve art.
The first years after liberation in a village in the Beskidy Mountains. Highlanders led by Haratyk are building a sawmill, a school and a brickyard. They consider the facilities to be common property, however not available to their neighbors. The freshly established people’s government argues that everybody has equal rights to use the infrastructure. Unfortunately, people lack communication skills and are unwilling to reach any compromise, which leads to a conflict between Haratyk and the head of the Security Office, who, using force and repressions wants to force him to subordinate himself. Highlanders burn the sawmill down and escape to the forest. Many years later, having got out of prison, Haratyk understands that it’s necessary to cooperate with the authorities.
