Set in the Polish countryside in the Thirties, this poetic portrait of two lives affected by the close proximity of death (a death not related to politics) exhibits yet another side of Andrzej Wajda. An intense character drama, the story concerns two brothers, one dying of tuberculosis and experiencing a final burst of élan vital before he goes, the other mourning the death of his wife and their unresolved relationship. With spring comes death and an almost mystical transaction of joy from the dead brother to the living.