This epic family drama was based on Maria Dąbrowska's novel Noce i dnie, and was described by The Washington Post as "Poland's Gone With the Wind".

[1] The film score was composed by Waldemar Kazanecki, which includes a Viennese waltz that is frequently played at Polish weddings as the first dance of bride and groom.

Amid the turbulence of World War I, elderly Barbara Niechcic recalls her dramatic life with husband Bogumił over a half-century of Polish history, starting with the failed January Uprising in 1863.

Nights and Days is a family saga of Barbara Ostrzeńska-Niechcic, and Bogumił Niechcic, against the backdrop of the January Uprising of 1863 and World War I.

Barbara suffers the loss of her first child, a four-year-old boy named Peter and decides to leave her home at Krempa to start a new life at the run-down land property of Serbinow.

Bogumił's dedication to his work is praised by the landowner of 'Serbinow', but Barbara has trouble with Tommy (Tomaszek, their youngest child), who is lying and stealing.

The revolutionary movement expands, involving Barbara's daughter, Agnieszka, who returns from the university full of life and eager to love.

Bogumił realizes that he is losing his daughter, Agnieszka, who decides to live with her husband in Brussels rather than staying at Serbinow with her family.

Due to the social history thread, it was included as a mandatory reading material in Polish high schools.

This film could be considered a Cliff Notes version of the novel and many cinemagoers were high-schoolers looking for a shortcut through their mandatory reading list.

In effect the communist government-run film monopoly paid for producing a faithful saga of an upper-class family (nobility).

Its high technical and artistic values allow it to successfully compete for viewers against contemporary soap operas.