The coastal people of Kaugatoma set out to build their own ship to earn a living independent of the baron's will. The baron does everything to prevent the venture, but still "Kaugatoma" raises its white sails. Unfortunately, the power of money turns out to be decisive both in the organization of joint activities and in the relations of the strong-natured captain Tõnis Tihu with the community and his loved ones. He abandons Liisu, with whom he has a son, and marries a wealthy widow. As a captain, he has the power to look after the welfare of the sailors, but he thinks more about his own safety. However, the winds of 1905 are already blowing over the sea.

In post-World War II Estonia, Mait Kukemeri, an activist of the Young Communist League arrives to the Metsa collective farm in the back of a traveling cinema truck. As a commissary of the spring sowing, he has orders to usher all the people to the field, even if the water is high enough to soak your boots and the machines sink in the mud. Harald Tuvikene, the head of the farm, keeps dragging his feet, trying to pitch his peasant wisdom against the senseless demands of the central power. For the first time in his life, Kukemeri faces a real problem - does he do what's right or does he follow the party's inept commands in order to further his own career?

When Paul Runge, a soldier of the Red Army, returns home to Koordi after the war, he sees that, despite the new regime, life in Koordi hasn't changed. It's still a abandoned, uncultured Estonian village, where rich landlords still oppress the population. Runge starts talking about founding a kolkhoze.

After a long night with his old war buddies, Andres Lapeteus regains consciousness in the hospital. How has confusion, bewilderment and alienation developed between these men who once fought together side by side? Is this the inevitable result of the Stalinist regime, the influence of his social climber wife, or the effect of his personal cowardliness and conformism? What happened to Andres Lapeteus?