Young Makvalla, who loves the cowman Onise, is married off to the unloved есаul Gela Goderdzishvili, who has become rich in the service of the bailiff. Onise decides to run away with Makvalla, and during a fight at Gela's house, he is seriously injured. Makvalla disappears from Gela's house. The fugitive is saved from death and taken in by the hermit shepherd Onfrey.