In the center of the film - two lives, two destinies. A simple, illiterate soldier Vostrikov of the Tsar's Army during the years of Soviet power grew into a devoted fighter of the revolution, he became a general of the Soviet Army, respected by all. A guards officer, a brilliant prince Naschyokin, who fought against Soviet power, emigrated from his native country and eventually became a lackey in a port restaurant.

Svetlana, young pretty girl, works as a trolleybus driver in a small town and almost all her permanent passengers are at least a little bit in love with her.

Episodic story of the resistance to the German invasion of Ukraine in 1918 during World War I, and made as an example of the guerrilla warfare and fierce spirit in which Ukrainian peasants were again resisting Teuton onslaughts in 1939. Highlights a small band of guerrillas and their battles using scythes, shotguns and, often, just clubs against the Kaiser's army in the Ukrainian forests.

The inhabitants of Chukotka are shown to be cruelly exploited before the revolution. Once Chukotka is visited by the representative of the Kamchatka Revolutionary Committee, Los, and the ethnographer Zhukov. The news of the arrival of the Russians immediately disperses along the coast. Contrary to the pressure of the American Thomson and the local "oligarch" Alitet in Chukotka, fair trade laws are established, as a result of which the Americans and Alitet leave Chukotka.

Danka's and Ksanka's childhood in the village brutally ends when their father is killed by a White Guard officer in front of their eyes. Seeking revenge, they join forces with Valerka, an intellectual from big city, and the gipsy Yashka, but before they can get close to their enemy they have to help their village and the advancing Red Army.