Plot Summary

The story concentrates on a single 48-hour period during the Russian Revolution. The central character, played by Y. E. Samchykovski, is an old servant who staunchly supports the Royal Family. Even when his master is placed in prison and his son is appointed a commissar, the servant remains faithful to the Czarist regime. But when his village is invaded by the White Russian army and his son is summarily executed, the old man realizes that his homeland is far better off in the hands of the revolutionaries, who seek to build rather than destroy. A "cleansing" fire brings this propaganda piece to an appropriately symbolic conclusion.