In the 18th century, Moldavian land was under the yoke of foreign invaders and the oppression of local boyars. A national liberation struggle unfolded in the country, in which the Hajduk led by Ataman Badiu actively participated. Boyar Manya, with the help of mercenaries, managed to capture him. But the boyar's daughter, who loved Badiu, gathered a detachment of Hajduk, who freed their chieftain.

Grishka Hamuraru, the grandson of the underground fighter Samson Hamuraru, who is still unjustly considered a traitor in the Moldovan village of Vioreni for having led a partisan group to ruin during the war, decides to conduct his own investigation and restore his grandfather's good name.

The events take place in 1919 in Bessarabia.