After an emergency landing on a desert planet, a group of astronauts establishes a new, shamanistic tribe. After two years of shooting (including in the Tatra Mountains, the Caucasus and the Gobi desert), in 1977 the production was shut down by the Polish government. It was not until 1988 that Żuławski finished this fragmentary, yet monumental theatrical version, developing a comprehensive planetary mythology in visionary images, orgiastic crowd scenes and delirious monologues, that have earned it a reputation as a unique and cursed movie.