Musical comedy based on the original 1835 play by Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko. The beautiful Ulyana is being given away as a bride to the fool Stetsko, but her heart belongs to the poor serf, Alex.

648. Ukraine under the oppression of Poland. Polish nobility committing outrage, burning villages one after another. Hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks Bohdan Khmelnytskyi gathers the army of defenders of the motherland.