In the remote villages on the edge of the Anatolian Taurus Mountains, the landowner Abdi Aga reigns supreme. The soil is so wretched that only thistles seem to thrive on it. From each harvest, the Aga demands two-thirds. Memed, the farmer's son, has drawn his wrath and is forced to flee into the mountains. From the frail, fearful boy, he transforms into a bandit, a rebel, and a avenger of the people. In his struggle against the Aga, Memed ultimately loses everything: his mother, his bride, the fertile land that the farmers have prepared for him after the amnesty. But once the revenge against Abdi Aga is fulfilled, the farmers bring their harvests to their own barns every year. And at the joyous festival before plowing, a fireball appears on the mountain where Memed has vanished.