1634, Ukraine. Karlis, a young Winged Hussar of Poland-Lithuania, sickened by the carnage of war, deserts. To wash their honor, the men of his old unit hunt him mercilessly, while two people secretly observe the pursuit. They are Cossacks, from a people of freedom-loving warriors-and it is with them that Karlis will eventually find refuge. But if he left his regiment, it's also because of the last orders he was given, which he refused to follow: the king of Poland-Lithuania wants the Cossacks disarmed.