The last film of Polish director Andrzej Munk, who was killed in a car crash during filming, this Holocaust drama was completed by Munk's colleagues and went on to win awards at Venice Film Festival and Cannes film festival. Liza (Aleksandra Slaska) is a German woman returning to Europe by ship with her husband. While walking on the deck, she sees the face of a woman she is sure she recognises. It turns out that she knew the passenger, Marta (Anna Ciepielewska) at Auschwitz, where the women's paths crossed during World War II. Two possible versions are given for the events that took place there: one heroic version, where Liza saved Marta's life; and one shameful version where Liza, a Nazi officer, manipulated events to gain promotion and imagined that Marta had been executed years before.