World War I: A soldier is executed at the Russian front. He was caught trying to defect to the enemy. Lieutenant Apostol Bologa from Transylvania is among the members of the military tribunal responsible for the verdict. A year later, Bologa himself will stand under the gallows, accused of desertion for refusing to shoot at his own countrymen. He sacrifices himself and loses everything - his family, his career, his love for Ilona. With epic force and suggestive power, Liviu Rebreanu portrays the fate of his own brother - a classic of world literature from Romania and a significant rediscovery.