Leader of a traveling gypsy band from the steppes of Bessarabia (now Moldova), Toma Alistar is a skilled violinist whose fame takes him on tours around European capitals and royal courts. He remains obsessed with his first love, beautiful Leanca who was married elsewhere while Toma was traveling, and spends his life and fortune trying to find her.

A difficult historical period in the life of the Moldovan people, who fought in the 1930s against the yoke of royal Romania and for reunification with the Soviet Union.