In the communist period, schoolgirl Marta shares a room with her sister and grandmother (Ewa Wiśniewska). Her parents – moonshine-making intellectual Tadek (Adam Woronowicz) and workplace trade union leader Elżbieta (Kinga Preis) – are worn down by the system, with dreams of owning their own ‘maluch’ car. But new opportunities are on the horizon – both for first love and travelling abroad. Back Then is a nostalgic picture of a bygone era; a gentle trip to a time when things were very different in Poland.