A young investigator undertakes to investigate another robbery. The elements of crime are obvious: a fair amount was stolen from the plant’s cash register. The investigator has two suspects — a cashier and a career criminal.

Mikhail is fascinated by the ideas of the Decembrists about a Russia free from the tyranny of the Tsar. After graduating from military school, he goes abroad. Upon returning to Russia, a tragic life awaits him.

One can achieve a free life only in an irreconcilable struggle against the class enemy. With this slogan, after being wounded, Mikhail returns from the civil war to one of the Moldovan villages, creates a Council of the Poor and makes the first decision — to plow the landlords' lands... The film takes place in the spring of 1917.