Episodic story of the resistance to the German invasion of Ukraine in 1918 during World War I, and made as an example of the guerrilla warfare and fierce spirit in which Ukrainian peasants were again resisting Teuton onslaughts in 1939. Highlights a small band of guerrillas and their battles using scythes, shotguns and, often, just clubs against the Kaiser's army in the Ukrainian forests.

Poetic treatment of the early life of Ukrainian poet and painter Taras Shevchenko. A biopic made on the occasion of his 150th anniversary. It dwells on the first part of the Shevchenko's life leading up to the writing of his rebellious poem "A Dream" (A comedy).