Ashes and Diamonds

Near a small country church, Maciek, Andrzej and Drewnowski prepare to assassinate Konrad Szczuka. They position themselves for the ambush as the day ends, driven by a sense of duty to the underground. The moment is tense, balancing resolve with the risk of exposure.

The ambush fails and Szczuka escapes, leaving the three men exposed and shaken. They soon realize that they have mistakenly killed two innocents, a devastating mistake that unsettles their mission. Guilt and fear begin to shadow their loyalty to the cause.

News of the failed ambush reaches Major Waga, who orders Andrzej and Maciek to try again. The directive underscores the pressure to achieve a visible victory despite the costs. The plan moves back into motion, with heightened tension among the conspirators.

A victory banquet is held in Ostrowiec, though the combatants do not participate. Maciek and Andrzej linger in the hotel bar, listening to guests celebrate the war’s supposed end and reminiscing about fallen comrades. The mood is festive but strained by underlying danger.

Drewnowski gets utterly drunk at the bar, foaming guests with a fire extinguisher and ruining the atmosphere. His antics leave him humiliated and his prospects in the underground party politics compromised. The chaos foreshadows the unraveling of their mission and loyalties.

During the party, Maciek flirts with the barwoman Krystyna and invites her to his room. They fall in love, but Krystyna senses that Maciek will not stay long, so she resists attaching herself to a man with an uncertain future. Their attraction adds a personal complication to the mission.

Rain drives the couple to shelter in a ruined church, where Krystyna notices a poem inscribed on the wall. Maciek recites it from memory, a somber reminder of memory and loss. They part with a vow to change his circumstances so they might be together.

Back at the hotel bar, Maciek articulates his sense of duty and obligation to the cause. Andrzej is unsympathetic, arguing that Maciek would become a deserter if he refuses to fulfill the assassination mission. The ideological tension intensifies their strained relationship.

After the reception, Szczuka learns that his son Marek has been arrested for joining an underground militia. The news portends further political danger and heightens Szczuka’s insecurity. The moment underscores the reach of the underground in daily life.

Maciek waits for Szczuka to leave the hotel, then follows him and shoots him dead. The assassination finally removes Szczuka as a threat to the underground, but it seals Maciek’s fate and deepens the moral cost of their actions.

The next morning, Maciek tells Krystyna that he intends to depart Ostrowiec by train, breaking her heart with the news. She pleads for him to stay, but his resolve to leave confirms the impossibility of their romance under their circumstances. The departure feels like an act of final farewell.

On the way to the train station, Maciek witnesses Andrzej beating Drewnowski for his opportunistic stance. He flees when Drewnowski calls his name, then runs into soldiers of the Polish People's Army and is shot in panic. He collapses at a garbage dump, dying in agony and ending the film’s timeline.