A glimpse of the Greek Civil War, which followed soon after the end of WW2, as it was experienced in the remote and rather peculiar island of Ikaria. After the defeat of the Democratic Army of Greece on Samos island, several men attempt to escape certain death at the hands of the Greek government. The loose film plot does incorporate many local stories and legends from that dark period, as well as older tales.
By the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was, if not on the verge of actual collapse, at least seriously decadent and clearly on its last legs. The hungry wolves of Europe were preparing to dine on its corpse, and as a result the Byzantine army and its allies were constantly engaged in battles and skirmishes. In this story, a widow lives in the 14th-century Byzantine village of Doxobus with her son Xenos. She forms a relationship with a village elder, and when she gives birth to the elder’s son, her son from her previous marriage is sent to live in a monastery.
A tanner, swamped with debts, must abandon his trade and go work in the local factory.
Michalis returns to the tobacco growers of his rural village after having spent some time in the city and persuades them to form a collective, rather than suffer the poverty-inducing prices they are paid for their crops by tobacco brokers. They agree not to sell to any of the brokers and start to form a farmers' group. When one of the farmers breaks the agreement and is found dead, Michalis is accused. However, rather than expose the farmers' plight and give publicity to the brokers' greed, the motive the government gives for the killing is thi asimanton aformin, for unimportant reasons.
