Wiesława Kosmalska

An epic tale of a hundred years of Polish history from the perspective of women, the titular maidens and widows. Set against the backdrop of turbulent historical events.

In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.

Former Master Mariner Klimecki works an unassuming job in a small port near the Baltic Sea, hiding his identity from the world, which makes him suspicious in the eyes of the local government.

A young man from the countryside fights against all odds to fulfill his dream of becoming an actor.

Tragedy befalls Hanka, as her husband and father die fighting Austrian forces invading the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809.

Takes place on an ocean liner from Canada to Poland. It is a story of several people with pasts and problems stemming from uncomfortable confrontations. The main confrontation is between a Polish doctor with a heart condition meeting a man he knew before. Neither of them was willing to admit their differences from the college days. The meeting torments the doctor enough to start him drinking and dying of a heart attack.