The action of the series begins in 1914 in Baku, the largest oil basin at the turn of the century. Cezary Baryka, the son of Seweryn Baryka, a Polish engineer employed in a large oil company, and Jadwiga Barykowa, who, despite many years spent in Baku, always misses her home town of Drohiczyn, lives in this cosmopolitan city. Czarek is friends with several peers: an Azeri, an Armenian, a Jew and a Russian. One day, Seweryn Baryka gets a call for maneuvers. Soon World War I breaks out, my father is fighting somewhere on the front. Not only Cezary's happy home is falling apart, but also his entire world. However, the boy gains complete freedom. He falls in love with a beautiful Armenian woman, Aida. Young people experience their greatest moments on the Burning Mountain. The idyll is interrupted by the arrival of the Bolsheviks in Baku. Czarek is carried away by revolutionary slogans, stops going to school, rebels against his mother, and gives his family valuables to the Bolsheviks. Along with the revolution, mass murders and robberies appear in Baku, and national conflicts grow, separating Cezary from his beloved and friends. One of them turns out to be a traitor and an informer.
