In March 1939, English antiques dealer Mrs. Bromley and her assistant Jennifer "Jenny" Whittredge travel through Poland making purchases.

However, Stefan's aristocratic family, particularly his sister Janina and his wealthy, diplomat uncle Count Pawel Orwid, is less than welcoming to the English commoner.

Afterwards, Jenny encourages Stefan to break his family's dependence on Count Pawel's financial aid by persuading his peasant tenants to adopt more modern and efficient farming methods.

Mieczysław B. Biskupski describes it as a "piece of historical rubbish", which claims that despite everything the West had done, the war is essentially Poland's fault.

In Biskupski's words, this was supposed to show that the previous downfall of Poland was solely the fault of the Polish nation, while carefully omitting Russia's role.

Director Vincent Sherman claimed that he had read about Polish history, but described it as the "South before the Civil War", thinking that peasants were supporting the landed gentry and large estates.