Synopsis
Adam (60) is a well-known and liked actor. Although it looks like he leads a perfect life – successes at work, satisfying teaching career, loving wife and lots of friends – he cannot help but feel the growing sense of emptiness inside him. Stroke takes Adam by surprise and changes everything.
In the hospital, he meets Jozek, a quirky highlander from Podhale (Polish mountain region) who invites him to stay over at his house. Adam drives into the mountains. The tranquility of the surroundings contrasts with the city life we have seen before. Bits of conversations, fragments of films, mountain views and the pair of friendly hosts help Adam achieve a long-lost balance in his life. But this world, although it is exactly the same as before, looks a bit different. Three days pass and the safe walls of the wooden house become alien and Adam starts feeling trapped. Over time nothing looks like it should be. Adam watches a fragment of a film he starred in and tries to repeat his lines, but cannot articulate them. He knows now that it is just an unreal vision, a dream happening in a non-existing place.
Back in the hospital, Adam wakes up from a coma. The doctors do not have much hope – the crucial parts of his brain are irreversibly damaged. But Agnieszka, his wife, does not give up. Full of hope and determination, she overcomes various obstacles and pulls him out of despair, which progresses his recovery. At the same time, Adam in his visions and memories, comes back on the stage, reliving his past and even more solemnly realizing that he will never fully regain it.
The second stroke also comes out of the blue. Luckily, help comes immediately this time and after few hours it is known that the miracle has happened – he goes through the second stroke without any further repercussions to his health. After many months, Adam can finally leave the hospital. Now he knows it for sure – he needs to live, even if he is going to lead a completely different life from now on.