In 1978, Andrzej Wajda exhibited at the Stary Theater in Krakow - on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of regaining independence - a seven-hour spectacle-river, based on works by Young Poland and inter-war writers. The script combines fragments of texts by Michał Bałucki, Gabriela Zapolska, Jan August Kisielewski, Zygmunt Kawecki, Stanisław Przybyszewski, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Maria Dąbrowska and Juliusz Kadena-Bandrowski. The success of the play prompted Andrzej Wajda to transfer her to the screen. As a result, an 8-episode saga of two middle-class Cracovian families - Chomiński and Dulski - was created against the background of Polish history under Austrian annexation, its customs and culture, from 1874 through the turbulent beginning of the 20th century until 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I ...