Slovno kazach'ya shashka blestit v stepi shirokiy Don, pronositsya nad nim gor'kiy polynnyy veter. Bol'she vsego donskoy kazak - khleborob i voin - lyubit svobodu i volyu. A novyye vremena kak plugom perepakhivayut lyudey, zastavlyaya ikh otkazyvat'sya ot privychnogo uklada zhizni, stalkivaya drug s drugom. Truzhenik Razmetnov, belogvardeyets Polovtsev, kommunist Nagul'nov, balagur ded Shchukar', putilovskiy slesar' Davydov - kazhdyy otstaivayet svoyu pravdu i gotov za neye idti do kontsa. A Don vse tak zhe techet po bezbrezhnoy stepi, otrazhaya dalekiye zvezdy, unosya s soboy lyudskiye radosti i zaboty, zvonkiy zhenskiy smekh i chastyy perestuk konskikh kopyt. sakriti opis