Aleksandr Dovzhenko writes, directs and produces this silent war drama, made in 1929. Just after World War I, soldier Timosh (Semyon Svashenko), having been released from the army, makes his way back home to Kiev, where a ceremony marking Ukraine's freedom is underway. Timosh and his fellow Bolshevik soldiers revolt against the authorities and end up at a munitions base, preparing to fight for their city against the approaching nationalist White Army.