After an emergency landing on a desert planet with an atmosphere resembling Earth, the surviving astronauts establish a new, shamanistic tribe. Video recordings of this raw, atavistic alternate world end up being sent to Earth and the astronaut named Marek is sent across space to the Silver Planet, where he is welcomed as a saviour. In a bloody crusade against the Sherns, the indigenous inhabitants, Marek becomes a military commander with a totalitarian streak ... Based on a series of books written by his greatuncle Jerzy Żuławski, Polish director Andrzej Żuławski has developed a comprehensive planetary mythology in visionary images, orgiastic crowd scenes and delirious monologues. After two years of shooting (including on location in the High Tatra Mountains, the Caucasus and the Gobi desert), the production was shut down by the government in 1977 because a newly appointed vice-minister of culture felt it expressed criticism of the system. The props and sets were destroyed. It was not until 1988 that Żuławski was able to finish this fragmentary, yet monumental theatrical version. The missing sequences have been replaced with contemporary images from Poland and a voice-over commentary by the director.