The film tells about a band of demobilized Red Army men and two civilians who cross a Middle Asian desert. They are forced to do battle with superior forces of Basmachi rebels for the dry draw-well.

Tigran, the head of "kolkhoz", is working without strain, reckoning with the responsiveness and support of neighboring collective farms. To punish Tigran's dependency, his lover Anush, the head of Jeyranik collective farm, the first boycots him refusing to help. After being fired during the review meeting, Tigran recognizes his failure and goes for work in construction of local hydro-power station.