A criminal drama based on the story of the same name by Pavel Nilin. The first years of Soviet power in East Siberia. Malyshev,deputy chief of Criminal Investigation Department, a Komsomol member, wins over to the Soviet power a former field-hand and now a bandit Lazar Baukin, and the latter tells him about Vorontsov, the gang leader. Malyshev guarantees Baukin’s freedom. However the chief arrests him in order to reap laurels of catching the gang leader. Malyshev is in despair - he has brought under execution the man who has fully trusted him. The situation gets worse due to his personal drama and Malyshev commits suicide.
About the first years of the formation of Soviet power, about the life and work of Feliks Dzerzhinsky in 1918-1925. The film covers the most important episodes of his biography. In July 1918, as a result of a revolt of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the German ambassador Mirbach was killed. Feliks Dzerzhinsky alone goes to the headquarters of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and Anarchists, he manages to persuade ordinary soldiers and sailors, participants in the rebellion, who are now cracking down on their leaders. In 1921, Dzerzhinsky was aimed at combating homelessness, as a result of which, by 1925, former homeless children, having completed their studies, were sent to the construction of Yugostal, the largest industrial plant in Ukraine.