War rages in the Caucasus. Two wounded Russian soldiers are taken to a mountain village by a Chechen, Abdul-Murat, who hopes to exchange the two soldiers against his son, made prisoner by the Russian army. While the two soldiers attempt to escape, one is killed. The exchange can no longer take place, all the more since Abdul-Murat's son was also shot dead during a collective escape from the prison he was kept in. The surviving young Russian, mistreated, is kept in chains in a deep hole. Abdul-Murat's daughter, who has fallen in love with him, tries desperatly to help him out. She knows that her father, urged by the village people, is about to kill him. But Abdul-Murat takes the Russian far from the village, putting an end to the inoxerable chain of murders...