He meets a fellow student and they become a couple; however, after a party in which Franek accepts a joint of cannabis, he returns to her apartment to find her being assaulted by another man.
However, due to the financial stress of the child, Franek must leave college and work in a hospital, evaluating medical equipment, participating in sleep studies for extra money, and eventually becoming a full orderly.
He then goes to a monastery, seeking answers to existential questions sparked by his experiences with death; after he leaves, he dreams that a monk has died and is entombed, before a montage of the rotting corpses of others in the catacombs is played.
Reentering college, he earns his doctorate, working as a researcher and lecturer as time passes rapidly; notably, he and other intellectuals hear news of the 1968 Polish political crisis on the radio.
Finally having published his first paper, he collapses while playing with his son; at the doctor, he is told that he has developed heart issues from old age, and that he "should not expect things to get better, ever again, like they used to."