A young Russian aristocrat, Baron Fyodor Jeremin, volunteers to serve with a Dragon squadron to impress the girl who rejected his love. Just at this time the 1863 insurrection explodes in Poland. He enlists to serve in the army being sent to suppress the revolt. He believes that now it's enough to defeat the Poles, become an officer and hero, get a bunch of medals, and then return and lay all of this at the feet of her beloved. However, the "little Polish war" looks completely different to the way that young Jeremin imagined it to be. In course of time, he learns to be on the wrong side. But there is no escape - he must kill or he will be killed. What's more, he falls in love with a beautiful Polish girl...