Gaffer Yordan the Gerak is a wealthy farmer with a large family. The Geraks live in harmony as long as his wife is alive. After her death, disagreement and strife erupt among them. Two of the sons, Bozhan and Peter, demand the partition of their father's real estate. The third son, Pavel, who is doing his military service in the town, has become estranged from the land and from his family. When Pavel returns home only to ask money from his father, Gaffer Yordan discovers that he has been robbed. His sons trade accusations and come to blows. Pavel goes back to his mistress in the city. Elka, Pavel's wife, falls ill with a venereal disease she has contracted from his husband. On a dark and stormy night Elka is about to drown herself in the river when the Gerak's old farmhand takes her back home. Before long, Elka dies, as does Gaffer Yordan. Bozhan fells the centenarian pine tree in the yard of the family home, which symbolized the patriarchal ways of the Geraks.

Each individual member of a rural cooperative family is entitled to a plot of land for personal use. The large Sedmak family lives together, but the eldest son Kram wants them to fictitiously split up in order to get more land. Despite his parents' reluctance, Krum and his wife leave. Krum and his family maintain a separate household, although the whole family continues to dine together. Unaware of what has happened is his younger brother Nayden, who is in love with the cooperative chairman's daughter. One day the Sedmaks forget to lock the door, and the chairman Geras enters and sees them eating dinner together. The fraud is uncovered... The chairman forbids his daughter Yanka to meet Nayden. After the fateful dinner, there is a rift in the Sedmak family. Nayden leaves his father's house. Sandy and Kram confess their guilt. Yanka, after some thought, returns to Nayden. They leave together to study in the city....