In 1919 at the end of WW1 Romanian peasant Manolache Preda returns to his native village where he finds his woman taken by another and his land sold to the local landowner.
At the end of the 16th century, Wallachia's ruler Michael the Brave dreams of uniting the kingdoms of Wallachia,Transylvania and Moldavia into a single country known as The United Principalities.
The movie is set in 18th century Maramureș region of Romania. The Romanian officer Grigore Pintea return to his village and finds out that his parents were killed, and other villagers were tortured because they protested against the unfair treatment of Bartolok Graff. He deserts the Austrian army and he becomes an outlaw. He is joined by many peasants and so his band manages to occupy 2 fortresses.
In 18th century Hapsburg ruled Transilvania the Romanian shepherds from the village of Vlașini face the oppression and injustice of imperial authorities, being forced to flee from their place of birth or pay tribute to the Germans of Hermannstadt for grazing sheep on their own pastures.
In 1848 during the tumultuous era of European revolutions shaking the continent out of its feudal-based empire-based system the Wallachian politician Nicolae Balcescu is trying to reach the same revolutionary goals at home.
A police officer is investigating the disappearance of a colleague's young boy. His key seems to be the "dark skinned" friend of the boy about whom nobody cares, including the police.
Two men depend on each other for survival in the first world war, but something in their past might prevent them to get along. Will they be able to put everything aside in order to survive?