The events of the novel unfold on the Don during the height of collectivization. It was the year 1930. On party assignment, Semyon Davydov arrives at the hamlet of Gremyachy Log — one of the twenty-five-thousanders, a communist, formerly a sailor and a worker at a Leningrad factory. He becomes acquainted with the leadership of the local party cell, represented by Makar Nagulnov, and with Andrei Razmyotnov, chairman of the Gremyachy village council. Together, in less than a year, they organize the Gremyachy collective farm, overcoming the distrust of the “middle peasants” while preventing sabotage and mismanagement.