The film, set during the German occupation of Warsaw during the war, tells the story of several inhabitants of the same tenement house.

The film proved to be highly popular and more than 10.8 million people watched it in the following three years – twice the usual average attendance in post-war Poland.

[2] In 1948 the film was re-edited and re-released in a new version, with more focus on Red Army's role as the liberator of Poland and the main ally of post-war Polish communist regime, as well as more grim outlook of the German occupation of Warsaw and German brutality in general.

[3] The film remains well-known and popular even in modern Poland,[2] being screened by the public Polish Television (TVP) on a regular basis.

Both editions have been published on DVD in Poland, by the Propaganda label, first the 1947 one, as-is, and later the 1948 one, in a digitally restored version.