Karol, a Polish hairdresser, is married to Dominique, who is French. We first meet them during their divorce hearing. Dominique asserts that their marriage was never consummated, which Karol confrims. The upshot is that Karol loses everything - wife, love, and the beauty salon he had bought with all his savings. Humilated, penniless, without a passport, hounded by the police, Karol cannot return to Poland. He scrapes together a little money by playing the comb on the subway, where he encounters Mikolaj, another Pole. Mikolaj ofers to employ Karol... to kill a man. Karol refuses. When he returns to Poland, he does not want to be inferior or even equal to others. He wants to be "more equal". He stubbornly launches various undertakings, only to fall into the trap of his own revenge against his ex-wife, Dominique. He does, however, wind up winning one thing-Dominiques love.