The plot is based on a love affair between three young people. Poor nobleman Stepan and the daughter of impoverished parents Elena love each other to the core. The girl's parents are on the verge of ruin, they want to marry their daughter to a rich but elderly merchant Kolevanov, to somehow correct the deplorable condition of the family. Lovers run away from home to secretly get married and be together.

Marysya, a young and capricious Cossack, lives in the village where the newlyweds came. The father pampers his daughter and does not deny her anything since childhood. Stepan saves the girl from death, as a result of which he condemns himself to unbridled boundless love on the part of Marisa. She decided to marry Stepan to herself, declared war on lovers, and in war, as we know, all means are good to win. At least that's what the stubborn Cossack thinks…