Several commercial fishermen were attacked by sea pirates and were forced to spend more than one year on a desert island. Many considered them dead - but almost all of them managed to survive ...

Russian Empire, 19th century. Poor Nykanor leaves his village and becomes a miner in the Donbas. His son Ostap also becomes a miner and works in the mine for thirty years, but after his father's sudden dismissal, he realizes that the state system needs radical changes.