Agnieszka lives alone with her illegitimate son Krystian in a workers' hostel. As a worker at the Gdansk shipyard, she is named a Hero of Labor and receives a television as a gift. She falls in love with her roommate Kazimierz, who works as a trumpet player in the shipyard band. The two marry and Krystian gets a father. A short time later Kazimierz dies of a heart attack. Again Agnieszka is alone with her son. Spurred on by him, she learns to read and write and eventually passes the exam to become a crane operator. At the shipyard, the popular Agnieszka is the only female crane operator. When there is an accident with several fatalities, Agnieszka rebels against the socialist authorities for the first time and wins money for the surviving dependents. When she witnesses striking shipyard workers being beaten up by the militia in 1970, she increasingly distances herself from the socialist system. "Director Volker Schlöndorff describes his epic melodrama about a heroine against her will as a 'ballad based on historical events'. Based on real figures, 'Strajk - the Heroine of Gdansk' reflects an important chapter of Polish - and European - history." (Federal Agency for Civic Education)