Like a Cossack saber glinting across the wide Don steppe, a bitter wormwood wind sweeps over it. Above all, a Don Cossack—the farmer and warrior—loves freedom and will. But new times, like a plow, tear through people, forcing them to abandon their familiar way of life and drive them into conflict with one another. The hardworking Razmetnov, the White Guardsman Polovtsev, the communist Nagulnov, the joker Uncle Shchukar, the mechanic Davydov from Putilov—each defends his own truth and is ready to go to the end for it. And the Don still flows across the boundless steppe, reflecting distant stars, carrying away human joys and cares, the ringing laughter of women, and the frequent rhythmic clatter of horse hooves…