Pyotr, backward lad from poor village, comes to town desperate for work. He's hired as replacement ("scab") worker at big metallurgical factory, which is in the throes of a strike organized by the Bolsheviks (communists). Deceitful industrialist's son involves naive young man in an attempt to murder Bolshevik leader.

Don Cossack Stepan Razin vowed to take revenge on the boyars for his tortured friends. Having led the rebellious peasants, he becomes the leader of an entire army. Humiliated and insulted people flock to him from all over the Russian land.