Aïssa Saïdi, a young, 23-year-old police officer of Algerian origin who dies during an initiation ritual for the prestigious Saint-Cyr French military school. His big brother Ismaël - the black sheep of the family - finds himself taking the lead on the funeral arrangements... The film is based on a personal tragedy experienced by the director himself in 2012.
Set at the turn of the century, the story concerns a Polish poet living in Cracow who has decided to marry a peasant girl. The wedding is attended by a heterogenous group of people from all strata of Polish society, who dance, get drunk and lament Poland's 100-year-long division of Poland under Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The bridegroom, a painter friend, and a journalist each in turn is confronted with spectres of Polish past. In the end a call to arms is called but turns out to be a hoax.
