The film covers the events of 1896-1905 - from the first revolutionary gatherings to the armed Moscow uprising of workers at Krasnaya Presnya, later called Bloody Sunday. St. Petersburg students Alexander Mikhailov and Yevgeny Svetlov and a peasant girl Varvara Postnikova arrive in Moscow and follow the complicated path of underground revolutionaries.

Russian filmmaker Vera Stroyeva specialized in cinematic adaptations of famous operas. One of the most successful of these was her 1955 film version of Mussorgsky and Pushkin's Boris Godunov. Stroyeva's adaptation deftly streamlines the story of a Russian czar whose life is placed in jeopardy by a pretender to his throne. A. Pirogov sings the title role, while G. Nellep provides vocal and visual menace as the "False Dmitri". The use of a color process known as Magicolor adds just the right touch of theatrical artificiality to the pomp-and-splendor proceedings.