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On the eve of World War II, in a place called Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon falls in love with a girl fabled for her angelic looks. To court Anielica Hetmanská he offers up his "golden hands" to transform her family's modest hut into a beautiful home, thereby building his way into her heart.

The war's arrival cuts short their courtship, delays their marriage and wreaks havoc in all their lives, and after the war, The Pigeon and Anielica leave the village behind for the city of Krakow and the promise of a new life.

Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter, nicknamed Baba Yaga, repeats their postwar journey, seeking a new life in the fairy-tale city of her grandmother's stories. But when she arrives in Kraków, instead of the whispered prosperity of the New Poland, she discovers a city caught between its future and its past, and full of frustrated youth. Taken in by her tough-talking cousin Irena and Irena's glamorous daughter Magda, Baba Yaga struggles to find her own place in 1990s Kraków and in the constellation of Irena and Magda's fierce love. But unexpected events-tragedies and miracles-force Baba Yaga to open her eyes to her family's and her country's history-and discover a vision for her own role in the New Poland.

A fairy tale for grown-ups, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True weaves together two remarkable stories, re-imagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one unforgettable love affair.