- A woman worries about her nephew's spiritual education, whose life and his father's are run on their home computer.
- "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other God but me." Ten-year-old Pawel and his father Krzysztof run their lives on their beloved home computer, while Pawel's aunt worries that his spiritual education is being neglected. But Pawel is too busy enjoying life, not least thanks to his father's Christmas present of a pair of ice skates, because the computer has calculated that the frozen lake is safe to skate across...—Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>
- Krzysztof Henryk Baranowski lives in an apartment in Warsaw, with his young and inquisitive son Pawel Wojciech Klata. Pawel spends a lot of time with his father exploring computer programs. One snowy day, Pawel quickly solves a kinematics problem given by his father using the computer. And later he goes out for shopping in a cheerful mood but soon all the cheerfulness fades after seeing a poor stray dog's frozen corpse. Pawel returns home with a pensive mind, filled with sorrow, grief, and questions about Death. During the breakfast, Pawel asks his father ".. what is death?". At first, his father gives him the scientific explanation of death and then tells him that it is only the memory of a person which is left after death. Krzystof also denies the existence of the soul, calling it an alternate easier explanation for life and death.
At the school, a TV news channel is doing a report on the poor quality of milk being provided at public schools. The crew also shoots the children including Pawel running around the campus. Later that day Pawel's auntie Irena Maja Komorowska comes to pick him up from the school. Back at home, he shows Irena how he can open and close the doors, turn the tap water on and off using the computer. Pawel also shows her the program he has created to know what his mother, who is living in another country, is doing. Irena asks him if the program knows what his mother is dreaming but the computer is unable to give an answer, to which she replies that it is simple, she is dreaming of Pawel. Pawel believes his father's computer would be able to answer what her mother is dreaming.
At her aunt's home, Pawel discusses the thoughts about life, death, and religion lingering in his mind. Irena explains him the purpose and meaning of life, which is a gift. She also tries explaining to him that her brother (Krzysztof) sees life more rationally, where everything can be counted and measured.
Pawel goes to a chess game teaming up with his father against a chess master. Pawel brilliantly identifies their opponent's next moves and is able to defeat her. Later after arriving at their apartment, they receive a call from Irena to discuss Pawel's wish for religion classes. She informs them that she has enrolled Pawel at religion classes at a local Church. During the phone conversation, Krzysztof and Pawel notice that Krzysztof's computer has turned itself on. A message ' I am ready ' is shown the monitor, which leaves the father and son puzzled.
Krzysztof who is a professor of linguistics gives a lecture, asking his students "to imagine a translator who has acquired complete knowledge of a word or a language. One with an unlimited memory which can be tapped into at any moment!". He explains how a mathematical device can have both intelligence and consciousness.
Pawel and his father calculate if it is possible for him to skate on the frozen pond. Using the data Pawel gets from the Meteorological Institute, which the computer uses to calculate maximum weight the ice can hold which is three times Pawel's weight. Pawel has already found his Christmas gift his parents had hidden, a pair of skates. He is eager to try them on the frozen pond. Krzysztof gives him permission to skate based on the computer's result. He even goes out to the pond later that night to inspect the strength of the ice.
Next morning, while Krzysztof is working the ink bottle on his table breaks all of a sudden. He hears firemen's sirens but then ignores them. He then gets a call from Ewa Jezierska Ewa Kania asking about Pawel, saying her son and Pawel are not back from their English lesson. He goes to the English teacher Maria Gladkowska to find about them, only to find out that she has flu and therefore she had sent them back as soon as they came. Feeling increasingly distressed after finding out to that the ice on the pond has broken, he calls Irena but she also does not know where Pawel is. Krzysztof is still in disbelief when he goes out to the pond where rescue operations are going on. One of Pawel's friend confirms to Krzysztof that Pawel was skating when the ice on the pond broke down. Later at the pond Irena and Krzysztof watch in desperation the rescuer bringing out the corpses out of the frozen water. Krzysztof goes back home filled with heartache and grief over the loss of his son. He finds that the computer has again switched itself on and is showing the message ' I am ready '.
With his sorrow, Krzysztof goes to an under-construction church and damages the altar. Due to which the candles fall down and the melting wax drops on the portrait of Black Madonna of Czestochowa, which appears as if she is crying for Pawel. Krzysztof kneels down and crosses himself on the forehead with the ice.
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