Based on a short story by O. Henry "The Ransom of the Red Chief". Three boys meet by chance. Myshko, a pioneer, is walking down the street in the ranks of a pioneer unit, while the homeless Semen is standing behind the unit, and Mr. Zhorzhyk is looking out of the window. The second time the boys meet is in the Crimea, where Myshko travels with the pioneers, the panych in a soft carriage with a bonnet, and Semen between the cars. Semen is kidnapped by bandits who mistake him for Zhorzhyk. Meanwhile, Zhorzhyk escapes from his bondage to a pioneer detachment. Soon, Semyon ends up there as well.

The film is set in one of the regions of Western Ukraine in the 1920s. A poor peasant, Vasyl, openly opposes the arbitrariness of the lord's authorities. While hunting in the lord's forest, he is captured by soldiers and imprisoned in a dungeon. His beloved girl Lesia, with the help of the villagers, opens the dam, and water begins to flood the manor. Amid the commotion, Vasyl escapes from his captivity.

To pay off their debts, parents sell their daughter Kira to an old coach maker, a wealthy man Stavro, before her birth. When Kira is 13 years old, Stavro takes her to his home as a slave wife.