Dmitri Kolupayev

In a Kazakh village at the beginning of Soviet power, a wealthy kulak (landowner) voluntarily denounces his opposition to the new regime and hands over his large home to be a new school for the children of the villagers. But three people in the village have difficulty believing that their class enemy is now their friend.

La película retrata, siguiendo la novela de Mijail Sholojov, los destinos de los cosacos del Don durante la Primera Guerra Mundial y la Guerra Civil en el Imperio Ruso. Grigory Melejov vive en una aldea de Veshenskaya. Está enamorado de Aksynia, pero debido a la insistencia de su padre, tiene que casarse con otra chica. Al descubrir su amorío con Aksynia, su joven esposa le abandona. Poco antes de la guerra, Grigory y su amada dejan también la granja. Mientras está en el frente de Austria, Grigory se entera de que el zar ha abdicado y se ha terminado la guerra. Se pone en camino para volver a casa en donde Aksynia le está esperando.

El filme cuenta la historia de dos campesinas, una tradicional y otra moderna, en un cóctel explosivo de melodrama y crítica al patriarcado que fue todo un éxito de audiencia en la época.

During the Civil War following the Bolshevik Revolution, a Red cavalry officer is warned by a staffer from headquarters about his dangerous attraction to the female leader of a band of Cossacks, a violent woman who is aroused by killing.

The film takes place during the pre-revolutionary years and the initial period of the Soviet regime. At a monastery shelter in one of Russia's western towns, orphan Yulka gives birth to a son from the shepherd Jerome. Matron of the shelter Pavlikha as directed by the father kills the newborn baby and disposes of the corpse in the Jewish Quarter. The Black Hundreds are spreading the rumor that the murder was committed by the Jews for ritual purposes. Mayhem arises which is supported by the authorities of the city. The church refuses to shelter Jews fleeing from the violent thugs.