At the height of the October Revolution during the 1919 allied intervention in Arkhangelsk, the exploits of one-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles are told, after he is taken in from the cold by a dysfunctional Russian family and mistakes a local woman for his presumed dead lover.

The scene is a small paper-producing factory presided over by the shiftless Ari and his long-suffering wife Taryn. Employees include Sybill and Windy, pale young women who toil endlessly at the pulp vats, and the more mature Helen, who is past breeding age. As Ari sits astride his beloved chimney, a Care-Giving Woman appears and offers a rooster to Taryn. The crows of this beast cause ecstatic, erotic disquietude in anyone within ear-shot. The cottage becomes a tropical whirlwind of desire until Helen manages to drown the rooster in the bubbling pulp.