 Edi picks scrap in Lodz, spending his idle hours poring over books found in the trash. He lives quietly, avoiding "the brothers," booze-running thugs who rules their neighborhood. The brothers are maniacally protective of their sister, Princess. They hire Edi to tutor her, and Edi becomes embroiled in her affair with a gypsy, evincing a gentleness and self-knowledge that belies his lowly social station.