Plot

Against the backdrop of WWI and the Russian Revolution, a young Cossack warrior navigates love, loyalty, and survival as his world transforms during the civil war that tears his homeland apart.

With World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War as backdrop, it's an old-fashioned, blood-and-guts narrative, filled with earthly humor and a wealth of colorful characters. The story concerns the fluctuating fortunes of Grigory Melekhov, a young Cossack who is both a hero and a victim of the uprising.—Mark E. Gubarenko