The action takes place in Kurzeme in the 17th century. The Duke of Courland, the King of Poland and the German barons wants power over the Latvian people. Farmers are the biggest victims of this power struggle.
Action takes place in Latvia in 1920-thies. Entrepreneurial Edgar Ceplis establish joint-stock company, to produce and export clay bricks. He attracts to project many investors in the hope of the promised huge profits. Soon Ceplis gets enamored to his office typist, but the business stays neglected, and it turns out that the selected clay is not valid for export bricks. While no one has learned, Ceplis quickly changes his plans and puts young officer in charge of company. A strory about the destructive human features: envy, greed, selfishness, cynicism, cruelty.
The film dramatizes November 11, 1919- a crucial date in the battle for Latvian independence. A year after the end of the official hostilities of WWI, a renegade German general and troops remain outside the Latvian capital. Latvian riflemen, most of them inexperienced volunteers, somehow managed to defeat a larger, better-armed force of German and Russian mercenaries.