Odeska Kinofabryka

Arkasha Pryakhin, the son of a cook, is accepted by the "ladies' committee" as a free pupil at the gymnasium. Treasury discipline, reigning in this educational institution, methodically kills in students a genuine love of knowledge. Gymnasium students, resisting the soulless school system, invent all sorts of pranks, sometimes very evil. Once, when Arkady refused to name the perpetrator of the mischief, he was expelled from the gymnasium.

An old man tells his grandson of a legendary treasure buried beneath the hills of Zvenigora, setting in motion a sweeping cinematic poem that intertwines Ukrainian folklore, history, and revolution.