Bulgaria. 13th century. The people, driven to utter despair, rise in arms. They elect Ivaylo - a poor peasant but gifted military commander - as their leader. Ivaylo's army overruns the Tatar invaders and the royal troops. In a decisive battle with the royal army, Ivaylo defeats and slays King Konstantin Asen. To prevent a betrayal on the feudal nobles, who intend to open the gates of the royal capital to Byzantine army, Ivaylo sacrifices his personal happiness, abandons his sweetheart and agrees to marry the widowed queen.

In 1933 Berlin, Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov is caught up in the Reichstag fire trials when Nazis seek to frame communists. Despite orchestrated provocations and mass repression, Dimitrov’s defiant courtroom defense exposes the baseless charges, forcing his acquittal and securing him political asylum in the Soviet Union.

The weaknesses and shortcomings in the work of some leaders in the years of the building of socialism are ridiculed.