Plot Summary

A simple-minded Ukrainian worker Levko inherits his uncle's flourishing mill business. The sudden and unexpected fortune consequently reveals Levko's furious crave for money. He starts with laying hands on the tavern of the missing Jew Yankel, who was snatched for cupidity by the devil Khapun. In the blink of an eye Levko becomes a village usurer, he fuddles peasants, he dilutes horilka, he wants and squeezes money from everyone. But the unruly desire to be rich leads to a complete loss of compassion, friends, and love. And the main question is how the hero's ordeals will end - will the real feelings triumph or will the greed prevail.