A terminally sad tale looking at the plight of an impoverished young mother in Poland who becomes pregnant, but is so afraid of telling her distant, and often cruel husband, that they have yet another child on the way, that she tries every which way to get rid of it.

En route she comes up against christian and social fundamentalism, and is emotionally dragged through the gutter until she is eventually driven to take dire measures.

The tragic tone is off-set by stunning photography and haunting imagery: a child looking through a crystal ball evokes images of foetuses floating in the womb. The mother is a Madonna from a painting by one of the old masters. How can life be so harsh and beautiful at the same time?