In the first half of the 17th century, the peasant Nazar Stodolya, sentenced to death by the Polish magnate Haletsky, is rescued by his friend Hnat. Later, Nazar and Hnat find themselves in the estate of the Ukrainian centurion Kichaty. The centurion, having invited a priest, persuades the fugitives to sign a paper stating that they have voluntarily been assigned to Kichaty's estate. Hnat does not sign the paper, and Nazar, falling in love with the owner's daughter Halia, easily puts his signature and thus falls into another bondage. Soon, Hnat leads the people's struggle against the oppressors, and Nazar and Halya join the rebels.

An episode of the liberation movement in Ukraine - the uprising of Kolievs (serfs, artisans and fishermen) against the tyranny of the feudal lords and the Polish nobility, which ended with a brutal massacre performed by a Russian punitive expedition in 1768.

A young man, Ivan, is forcefully mobilised and sent to fight in the Caucasian War as a soldier of the Russian Empire by his landlord, leaving his wife behind. In the Caucasus, Ivas experiences the fierce local resistance to the Russian military, and returns home to launch an uprising against the Russian government.

On the patriotism of Ukrainian collective farmers. Tractor driver Andrei Stozhar decides to go to the Far East instead of his brother Maxim killed on the border.

Adapted from the opera written by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky.

Summer 1918. There is a danger of ships being captured by Germany in the Black Sea Fleet. The Soviet government decides to destroy the fleet. The film tells about the intense struggle of the Bolsheviks against the forces of counterrevolution trying to disrupt the execution of the order.

Terenty leaves the collective farm and goes to the city to study to become an agronomist. Marina works hard and looks forward to her husband's return. When her husband returns home, he reproaches his wife for being uneducated, asks for a divorce and leaves for the city. Left with her daughter, Marina devotes herself entirely to her studies and work.