Follows the Bulgarian people's struggle for national independence in the period from 1875 to the Liberation from Otoman bondage.

Constantinople, 1883. During an outing to the Black Island Edith, the adopted daughter of the French ambassador, is saved by Kalin the Eagle. She learns that he is a Bulgarian revolutionary from the April Uprising of 1876. With her help Kalin the Eagle escapes and returns to the liberated Bulgaria, where he is drawn to the socialist movement. Edith finds out that Kalin is in fact her father, and sets out in search of him. Kalin the Eagle is notable as the first movie made by the nationalized film industry after World War II in the newly formed People's Republic of Bulgaria.

The weaknesses and shortcomings in the work of some leaders in the years of the building of socialism are ridiculed.

A discovery complicates the relations in a family.

The young Bulgarian Muslim woman Zyulker wants to study and become a teacher. Her father decides to arrange a marriage to her. After the wedding, she runs away and goes to the town. There she starts work in a hostel. Her husband takes her back. He beats and humiliates her. She gives birth to her child prematurely, takes the baby and goes to the school for Muslim in the town. She has to surmount many difficulties. The young woman meets her first teacher Stefanov. The two fall in love. With his help, Zyulker finishes her study successfully and makes up her mind to return to her native village as a teacher. Stefanov follows her and proposes to her. The two embrace.

Under Ottoman rule, the artist Boyan secretly becomes the masked avenger “Halata,” defending villagers against the usurer Hristo and Ali Chaush’s oppression. When Tzveta discovers his dual identity, Boyan’s actions spark a national uprising as armed villagers rally to overthrow their tyrannical overlords.

Boris Morev dreams of money and power, he’ll do everything to reach the top, including leaving his beloved Irina, to marry the daughter of the local tobacco factory owner. With the death of his father-in-law and the illness of his wife, Morev becomes the new owner of "Nicotiana" and rules with an iron fist, resulting in massive labour strikes and murder. He ropes Irina back into his life, first as a mistress and later as his second wife, but his ambitions still come first as he plans on emerging as the biggest tobacco seller once the war is over. Irina’s love for Boris is fading and she finds a lover in one of the Germans Boris is trying to strike a deal with. Set against the backdrop of World War II and communist partisans fighting against the Nazi-allied Bulgarian monarchy, the film is a screen adaptation of the Bulgarian classic novel "Tobacco" released in 1954.