1920. Last days of the first Armenian Republic. Armenian Army fights on two fronts: war with Turkish army in the west, and Red Army incursion and Bolshevik mutiny in the northeast. Hayk Saroyan returns to his native provincial town from Russia to assume a minor post at Dashnak Army command center. His brother Gevorg, captain at the same command center, is a real patriot prefering death to "eternal exile", army power to relegious mercifullness. Very soon a suspicion creeps inside him: his beloved brother is Bolshevik spy.

The film is set in Baku at the beginning of the 20th century. After his death, the wealthy oil magnate Marcos Alimyan bequeathed his entire fortune to his eldest son, Smbat. Influenced by money, Smbat becomes involved in business, forgetting all his lofty aspirations. His younger son, a spendthrift and a reveler, is reformed by the influence of noble love.