Raisa Yesipova

A young peasant woman decides to become a tractor driver.

In 1919, during the post-revolution Russian Civil War, a naval detachment (made up of communist Reds) defends the strategic city of Petrograd from the White Russian counterrevolutionary forces

The film takes place during the pre-revolutionary years and the initial period of the Soviet regime. At a monastery shelter in one of Russia's western towns, orphan Yulka gives birth to a son from the shepherd Jerome. Matron of the shelter Pavlikha as directed by the father kills the newborn baby and disposes of the corpse in the Jewish Quarter. The Black Hundreds are spreading the rumor that the murder was committed by the Jews for ritual purposes. Mayhem arises which is supported by the authorities of the city. The church refuses to shelter Jews fleeing from the violent thugs.

Seeing how the priests convince men to "defend the Motherland" by joining the battlefront slaughter of WWI, a young man and his wife reject religion.