On the pages of Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel, the radio is constantly rumbling. At the beginning there is a message from the Fourth of May that an act of surrender has been signed at the headquarters of Marshal Montgomery, “according to which ... German military formations in northwestern Germany, Holland, Denmark ... including warships located in this area, cease fire and unconditionally capitulate." The next message, dated May 8th, is about the unconditional surrender of Germany. The action of the novel takes place between these two messages. In the small Polish town of Ostrowiec, five people are killed over these three days.