Spring 1923. Krzysztof Grabień, the son of a teacher from a village near Przeworsk, arrives on the Polish coast encouraged by news of the construction of a port in Gdynia. Next to a point recruiting workers, Krzysztof meets Volodya Yazovetsky. The peer persuades him to go into an illegal but profitable business. At the garkuchnya works Lucka Konka, whom Krzysztof likes with reciprocity. Volodya meets French engineers who are to help build the wharves of a future port.