To pay off debts, Kira at 13 is sold by her parents to the old and rich Stavro. Constantly humiliated and beaten she gives birth to Dragomir and Kiralina. The trader Nazid kills Stavro to be able to sell Kiralina to a brothel.
Adaptation of Panait Istrati's anti-capitalist, anti-feudal tale of the exploitation and mistreatment of women and girls in the "bad old days" in the Near East. A cautionary tale to make the new Communist system in the USSR look like a great improvement over the bad old days, particularly in the treatment of females.—Prof Steven P Hill, University of Illinois.