The front-line friends during the heavy battle swore to each other that the one who would survive would continue the work of the deceased. Mikhail Nesterov remained alive and the main business of his life was the search for a deposit of valuable clay. These searches began his friend before the war, in remote taiga places. Yevdokiya Perevalova — the widow of a deceased friend decides to help Nesterov get to those deaf places...

In the Siberian taiga village of Wolf's Burrows, the Strogov family lives — Matvey with his wife Anna and his parents. Through the fate of this peasant family, a picture of the life of the Siberian region during major historical events — the Russo-Japanese War, the 1905 Revolution, the October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War is outlined.