Vasiliy Sychevskiy

Platon Smolyak, the director of the industrial complex, decides to begin land restoration work following an accident at the quarry, but he faces resistance from members of the city party committee bureau. The workers support him, arguing that the cause was a shift in the soil rather than any failure on his part. Zhulai calls for a thorough analysis of the situation before a decision is made.

A priest from a Carpathian village who sheltered an orphan teenager, Bogdan Chichura, sends him to a theological seminary. After graduating from the seminary with honors, the young man enters the Gregorian University, becomes a doctor of theology and returns to his village. Here he learns that his beloved Ruzhena, deceived by the bishop's letter, has gone to a monastery. And her father, a Rusyn, is being persecuted by the authorities and the church for his leftist beliefs. Bogdan embarks on a difficult struggle for the honor of his loved ones. But the Second World War begins.