Three friends hope to build a factory but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair.

At the turn of the century, Lodz, Poland was a quick-paced manufacturing center for textiles, replete with cutthroat industrialists and unsafe working conditions. Three young friends, a Pole, a Jew and a German, pool their money together to build a factory. The movie follows their ruthless pursuit of fortune.—krasnoludek

A movie, highly critical of rampant capitalism, whose strength lies mostly in its vividly drawn characters and detailed, accurate settings. Three men decide they want to take advantage of the new potential for fortune-making that has emerged with the coming of the Industrial Revolution to Lodz. A large part of the story is concerned with raising the initial capital for constructing a factory, mostly gained by the Polish character through marriage. While there are many setbacks and obstacles put in their way, the 3 men do eventually get their factory and their fortune but it all comes at a price. In the end, it becomes obvious that this fortune will require continued struggle and moral compromise if they are to keep it.—Anonymous