The plain of Thessaly, 1910. The tenant farmers suffer untold hardships, both from the Arvanites invaders who ravage and seize their possessions and from the chief landlord of the area Stratos Karatzas, who claims the lion's share of their harvest. The dynamic daughter of one of the tenant farmers, Maya, who is about to get married to a young farmer, Lefteris, leads their struggle for better conditions and confronts Karatzas - as well as his niece Vgenio, who also wants Lefteris. The latter plots and succeeds to separate them. Lefteris leaves for the army and Karatzas persuades Maya to marry him. Lefteris is captured during an ambush set by the Turks, but in the end he is set free and returns to Maya's arms forever.