At the end of the penultimate Turkish campaign, the Cossack Prokofiy Melekhov brought home a captive Turkish woman to the village of Veshenskaya. From their marriage, a son was born, called Pantelei, as dark and dark-eyed as his mother. Subsequently, Pantelei Prokofievich was engaged in the arrangement of the economy and significantly expanded his lands. He married a Cossack by the name of Vasilisa Ilyinichna, and since then Turkish blood began to interbreed with Cossack blood. So, the eldest son of Pantelei Prokofievich, Petro, went to his mother: he was short, snub-nosed and Rusogolovy; and the youngest, Gregory, was more like a father: the same swarthy, hunch-nosed, wildly beautiful, the same frenzied disposition. In addition to them, the Melekhov family consisted of his father's favorite Dunyashka and Petrova's wife Daria.

In the early morning Pantelei Prokofievich calls Grigory for fishing, during which he demands that his son leave Aksinya Astakhova, the wife of Stepan’s Melekhov’s neighbor, alone. Gregory with a friend, Mitka Korshunov, is going to sell the caught carp to the rich merchant Mokhov and meets his daughter Elizabeth. Petro and Stepan leave for the camps to gather, and Gregory continues to flirt with Aksinya.

When Aksinya was sixteen years old, she was raped by her own father, who was then killed by the girl’s mother and brother. A year later, she was married to Stepan Astakhov, who, not forgiving the "insult," began to beat Aksinya and walk along the blinds. Therefore, when Grishka Melekhov began to show interest in her, Aksinya, who did not know the love, to her horror, had a reciprocal feeling. Soon she converges with Gregory. Lovers do not hide their connection, and everything becomes known to both Pantelei Prokofievich and Stepan. Having returned, he begins to brutally beat Aksinya, and his father decides to quickly marry Gregory to Natalia, the sister of Mitka Korshunov. Stepan Astakhov, fighting with the Melekhov brothers, becomes their sworn enemy. Aksinya tries, but cannot suppress her feelings for Gregory. The matchmaking of Pantelei Prokofievich gives positive results, since Natalya Korshunova falls in love with Grigory. He, in turn, offers Axigne to end their connection. Gregory marries Natalia without feeling any feelings for her.

Mitka Korshunov takes Elizabeth Mokhov out for fishing and rape there. Dirty rumors begin to creep along the farm, and Mitka goes to marry to Elizabeth. But the girl refuses him, and Sergei Platonovich Mokhov lets the dogs down on Korshunov. Gregory realizes that his feeling for Aksinya has not died. She is apparently reconciled with her husband, but continues to love Gregory.

Fedot Bodovskov gets acquainted with Shtokman. Tom manages to stop the fight at the mill, during which Mitka Korshunov beats the merchant Mokhov. During interrogation by the investigator, Shtokman says that in 1907 he was in prison "for unrest" and was serving a link. Gregory confesses to Natalia that he does not love her. During a trip for brushwood, the Melekhov brothers meet Axinho. Aksigny's relationship with Gregory is resuming. To Shtokman readings on the history of the Don Cossacks come Jack, Christonya, Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov and Mishka Kosheva. Gregory and Mitka Korshunov take the oath. Natalia decides to return to live with her parents. There is a quarrel between Gregory and Pantelei Prokofievich, after which Gregory leaves home. At the merchant Mokhov, he meets the centurion Evgeny Listnitsky and accepts the offer to work on his estate Berry coachman. Aksinho is taken as a cook for domestic and seasonal workers. Aksinya and Grigory leave the farm, and Natalya returns to her parents. From the very first days, Listnitsky began to show interest in Aksinya.

Valet and Ivan Alekseevich continue to go to Shtokman, who tells them about the struggle of the capitalist states for markets and colonies as the main reason for the impending world war. At Easter, Natalia, exhausted by the humiliating nature of her position, makes a suicide attempt. Aksinya admits to Gregory that he expects a child from him. Petro arrives to visit his brother. Aksinya begs Gregory to take her with him to a mowing and gives birth to a girl on the way home. Gregory is called up for military training; Pantelei Prokofievich unexpectedly comes to him and brings a "reference". Gregory leaves for a four-year service; on the way, his father tells him that Natalya survived, although she remained a cripple, and asked if Gregory would live with her when he returned. At the medical commission, they want to write down Gregory to the guard, but due to non-standard external data (“The gangster’s erysipelas ... Very wild”), they are enlisted in the Army Twelfth Cossack Regiment. On the first day, Gregory begins friction with his superiors.

Natalia again comes to live with the Melekhovs. She still hopes for Gregory to return to the family. Dunyasha begins to go to games and tells Natalya about her relationship with Mishka Koshev. An investigator arrives in the village and arrests Shtokman; during a search he finds illegal literature. During interrogation, it turns out that Shtokman is a member of the RSDLP. He is being taken away from Veshenskaya.

The regiment of Gregory stands in the estate of Radzivillovo. Watching the officers, Gregory feels an invisible wall between himself and them; this feeling is amplified due to the incident with Prokhor Zykov, beaten by the wahmistra during the exercises. Before the beginning of spring, the Cossacks, brutalized from boredom, rape Frania, a young maid of the manager, with a platoon; Grigory, who was running to her aid, was tied up and thrown at the stable, promising to kill, if he let it slip.

The war begins, and the Cossacks are taken to the Russian-Austrian border. In his first battle, Gregory kills a man, and the image of a hacked Austrian worries his conscience. Withdrawn from the battle line, the regiment of Gregory accepts a replenishment from the Don. Gregory meets his brother, Mishka Koshevy, Anikushka and Stepan Astakhov. In a conversation with Peter, he admits that he is homesick and tormented by the forced murder. Petro advises to beware of Stepan, who promised to kill Gregory in the first battle. Gregory finds a diary from the killed Cossack, which describes the latter’s romance with Elizabeth Mokhova, who descended. Gregory’s platoon gets a Cossack nicknamed Chubaty; mocking the experiences of Gregory, he says that in battle to kill the enemy is a holy thing. Gregory is seriously wounded in the head. Embraced by a patriotic impulse, Yevgeny Listnitsky leaves for the army in command of the platoon. Podesaul Kalmykov advises him to reduce his acquaintance with voluntary Ilya Bunchuk. The Melekhovs receive news of the death of Gregory, and twelve days later from the letter of Peter it turns out that Gregory is alive, moreover, he was awarded the George Cross for the salvation of a wounded officer and was promoted to junior guard. Having received a letter from Gregory, where he sends her “a bow and the lowest respect”, Natalya decides to go to Yagodnaya, to beg Aksinya to return her husband. On the eve of the next attack, a shell hits the house where Prokhor Zykov, Chubaty and Grigory stopped. Gregory wounded in the eye is sent to a hospital in Moscow. Tanya, the daughter of Gregory and Aksigny, becomes ill with scarlet fever and soon dies. Aksinya agrees with Levnitsky, who came on vacation for injuries. Garanzha, Grigory’s neighbor in the hospital ward, in conversations with the Cossack spoke dismissively of the autocratic system and reveals the real causes of the war. Gregory with horror feels that all his previous ideas about the tsar, his homeland and his Cossack military duty are collapsing. Gregory is transferred to the hospital on Tverskaya, to heal the opened wound; there, a person of the imperial family visits his house. For disrespectful behavior in the presence of the highest guest, Gregory is deprived of food for three days, and then sent home. Gregory goes to Berry. From the groom's grandfather, Sasha, he learns about the relationship of Aksinya with Listnitsky. Gregory beats the centurion with a whip and, abandoning Axinho, returns to his family, to Natalia.

Having reached the rank of officer, Bunchuk conducts Bolshevik propaganda in the troops. Liznitsky informs him, Bunchuk deserts. At the front, Ivan Alekseevich meets Valeta; it turns out that Shtokman is in Siberia. Gregory recalls how he saved the life of Stepan Astakhov in battle, which, however, did not reconcile them. Gradually, Gregory began to establish friendly relations with Chubaty, who was inclined to deny the war. Together with him and Mishka Koshev, Gregory takes part in the “arrest” of worm cabbage and relates them to his hundredth commander. In the fall, Natalia gives birth to twins. During the next offensive, Gregory is injured in the arm. Peter heard rumors about the infidelity of Daria, who cohabited with Stepan Astakhov. Wounded on the battlefield, Stepan goes missing, and Petro decides to knock out Daria’s eye so that no one else will look at her. In turn, Pantelei Prokofievich takes measures to restrain his daughter-in-law, but this does not lead to anything good. The February Revolution arouses restrained alarm among the Cossacks. Listnitsky tells the merchant Mokhov that as a result of Bolshevik propaganda, soldiers turned into gangs of criminals, unbridled and wild, and the Bolsheviks themselves were "worse than cholera bacilli." The brigade commander, where Petro Melekhov serves, urges the Cossacks to stay away from the turmoil that has begun. Hoping for an early end to the war, the Cossacks swear allegiance to the Provisional Government. They meet the order to return to the front with an open murmur. Daria arrives at the front to Peter. Listnitsky receives an appointment to a promonarchist regiment; soon in connection with the July events he was sent to Petrograd. Kornilov becomes the supreme commander; officers pin hopes on him to save Russia, Cossacks "crumple". Ivan Alekseevich commits a coup in his regiment and is appointed centurion; he refuses to go to Petrograd. Bunchuk arrives at the front to agitate for the Bolsheviks and encounters Kalmykov. The deserter arrests Kalmykov in order to be shot. In Petrograd, Listnitsky becomes a witness to the Bolshevik coup. Having received news of a change in power, the Cossacks are returning home.

Ivan Alekseevich, Mitka Korshunov, Prokhor Zykov, and after them Petro Melekhov, who fled from the bolshevik regiment, returned to the village. It becomes known that Gregory joined the Bolsheviks, already being in the rank of platoon officer. After the coup, he receives the appointment of hundreds of commanders. Gregory falls under the influence of his co-worker Efim Izvarin, who stands for the full autonomy of the Don Cossack Region. Izvarin explains to Gregory that the only thing the Bolsheviks have in common with the Cossacks is that the Bolsheviks stand for peace, and the Cossacks have long been tired of fighting. But their paths will diverge as soon as the war ends and the Bolsheviks reach out to the Cossack possessions. In November of the seventeenth, Gregory met with Podtelkov. Bunchuk leaves for Rostov, where he receives the task of organizing a machine gun team. The machine gunners sent to him Anna Pogudko. Ivan Alekseevich and Khristonya go to the congress of war veterans and meet Gregory there. Podtelkov is elected chairman, and Krivoshlykova is elected secretary of the Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee, which declared itself a government on the Don. Another contender for power over the Cossacks is the ataman of the Army Circle Kaledin. Chernetsov detachment breaks the forces of the Red Guards. Gregory at the head of two hundred, supported by machine gunners Bunchuk, goes into battle and receives another wound (in the leg). Chernetsov, along with four dozen young officers, was captured. All were brutally murdered by order of Podtelkov, despite the opposition of Grigory and Golubov. Pantelei Prokofievich brings the wounded Gregory home. Father and brother disapprove of his Bolshevik views; Grigory himself, after the reprisal against Chernetsov, is undergoing a mental crisis. News comes of the suicide of Kaledin.

Bunchuk is recovering from typhoid; his romance begins with Anna, who looked after him during his illness. Listnitsky, along with the Kornilovites, leaves Rostov. Golubov and Bunchuk arrest the leaders of the Army Circle. Bunchuk is appointed commandant of the Revolutionary Tribunal, and he begins to actively shoot the "counter-revolutionaries." Knave calls on the Cossacks to rescue units of the Red Guard, but persuades only Koshevoy; Grigory, Khristonya and Ivan Alekseevich refuse. In connection with the Bolshevik raid on the village of Migulinskaya, a Cossack meeting is being held on the Maidan. The visiting centurion is agitating the Cossacks to form a detachment to fight the Reds and protect Veshek. Miron Grigorievich Korshunov, the father of Natalia and Mitka, is elected ataman. The centurion offers Gregory to the post of commander, but he is reminded of the Red Guard past and appointed Peter. Prokhor Zykov, Mitka, Khristonya and other Cossacks are recorded in the regiment. However, they are convinced that there will be no war.

Together with all, Gregory opposes Podtelkov. Anna dies in battle. Podtelkov stipulates the terms of the surrender, which Bunchuk objects to. Prisoners are sentenced to death, Podtelkova with Krivoshlykov - to be hanged. Mitka, who volunteered for the firing squad, kills Bunchuk. Before the execution, Podtelkov accuses Gregory of betrayal, in response, Gregory recalls the reprisal against the detachment of Chernetsov. A bear of Koshevoy and Valet is caught by the Cossacks; The jack is killed, and Mishka, in the hope of correction, is sentenced to lash.

April 1918. A civil war is going on in the Don. Pantelei Prokofievich and Miron Korshunov are chosen as delegates to the Army Circle; General Krasnov becomes the army chieftain. Petro Melekhov leads a hundred against the Reds. In a conversation with Gregory, he is trying to find out the mood of his brother, to find out if he is going to return to the Reds. Instead of being sent to the front, Koshovoy is appointed an atarcher. Listniki amputated fragmented arm. Soon he marries the widow of a deceased friend and returns to Berry. From German captivity comes Stepan Astakhov; he goes to Aksinya and persuades her to return home. For his humane attitude to the prisoners, Gregory is removed from the command of a hundred, he again takes a platoon. Pantelei Prokofievich comes to Gregory in the regiment and is engaged in looting there. During the retreat, Gregory arbitrarily leaves the front and returns home. Following him, Petro flees from the Bolshevik regiment. The Melekhovs decide to wait out the advance of the Reds without leaving the farm. Several Red Army soldiers stand at their billets, one of whom begins to seek quarrels with Gregory. Pantelei Prokofievich cripples the horses of Peter and Gregory so that they are not taken away. The Reds become aware that Gregory is an officer; mutilating the Red Guard who tried to kill him, Grigory flees from the farm. Ivan Alekseevich is elected chairman of the executive committee. Kosheva - his deputy. Cossacks surrender weapons.

According to Don, rumors are circulating about extraditions and tribunals executing a quick and unrighteous trial of Cossacks serving with whites, and Petro is looking for intercession from Jacob Fomin, the head of the district revolutionary. Ivan Alekseevich quarrels with Gregory, not wishing to recognize the merits of Soviet power; Kosheva offers to arrest Gregory, but he manages to leave for another village. According to the list compiled by Koshev, Miron Korshunov, Avdeich Brekh and several other old people are being arrested. Shtokman is declared in Veshenskaya. The news comes of the execution of the Cossacks. Succumbing to Lukinichny’s persuasion, Petro digs out of the common grave at night and brings the corpse of Miron Grigoryevich to the Korshunovs.Shtokman appears at the Cossack assembly and announces that those executed were enemies of the Soviet regime. Pantelei and Grigory Melekhovs and Fedot Bodovskov also appear on the list for execution. Upon learning of the return of Gregory, the Veshensky communists discuss his future fate; Gregory, meanwhile, again escapes and hides with relatives. Pantelei Prokofievich, who suffered from typhus, cannot escape arrest.

In Kazan, riots begin. Antip Sinilin, son of Avdeich Brech, is involved in the beating of Koshev; he, having recovered from Stepan Astakhov, is hiding from the farm. Having learned about the beginning of the uprising, Gregory returns home. Peter is chosen as the commander of an equestrian hundreds. Broken by the Reds, Petro, Fedot Bodovskov and other Cossacks, deceived by the promise to save their lives, surrender, and Kosheva, with the tacit support of Ivan Alekseevich, kills Peter; Of all the Cossacks who were with him, only Stepan Astakhov and Antip Brekhovich manage to escape. Gregory is appointed commander of the Veshensky regiment, and after that - commander of one of the rebel divisions. Avenging the death of his brother, he ceases to take prisoners. In battles near Sviridov and for Karginsky, his Cossacks smash squadrons of red cavalry. Moving away from black thoughts, Gregory begins to drink and walk along the zhelmerki. During the next drinking party, Medvedev proposes to remove Kudinov, commander of all rebel forces, and to appoint Gregory in his place in order to continue the war against the Reds and Cadets; Gregory refuses. In the battle near Klimovka, he personally cuts down four Red Guards, after which he experiences a severe nervous attack. Having left with his veteran Prokhor Zykov in Veshki, Grigory on the way releases from prison the relatives of the Cossacks who had been arrested by Kudinov, who had been arrested. Natalia learns about the numerous betrayals of her husband, a quarrel occurs between them.

In the meantime, the Serdobsky regiment, where Kosheva, Shtokman and Kotlyarov serve, is in full force on the side of the rebels; even before the riots Shtokman manages to send Bear with a report to the headquarters. During a spontaneous rally, Shtokman is killed, and Ivan Alekseevich, together with other communists of the regiment, put under arrest. Pantelei Prokofievich witnesses a chance meeting between his son and Aksinya, and, having thought about what Grigory got into such a dog, he comes to a logical conclusion. In Aksinya, a long-standing feeling for Gregory wakes up; that evening, taking advantage of the absence of Stepan, she asks Daria to call her beloved person. Their connection is renewed. Having learned about the transition to the rebels of the Serdobsky regiment, Grigory rushes to Veshki to save Kotlyarov and Mishka and find out who killed Peter. The prisoners, beaten up beyond recognition, are driven to the Tatar farm, where they are greeted by the relatives of the deceased, craving for revenge, along with Peter Melekhov, the Cossacks. Daria accuses Ivan Alekseevich of her husband’s death and shoots him, Antip Brekhovich helps finish off Kotlyarov. An hour after the beating of the prisoners on the farm appears to the horse driven Gregory to death.

Having agreed to lead the breakthrough to the Don, Gregory decides to take Axinho with him, and Natalia and her children to leave at home. Avenging the death of Ivan Alekseevich and Shtokman, Mishka Kosheva sets fire to the homes of clergy and wealthy Cossacks. Before burning the Korshunov’s chicken, Kosheva kills old grandfather Grishak. Landmarks begin to undergo intensive shelling. The Reds are preparing to cross the Don in the vicinity of the Gromkovskaya hundreds, where Grigory immediately goes. Soon Prokhor leads him to Veshki Aksinya.

To the complete surprise of the hundreds of Cossacks of the Gromkovskaya group, occupied exclusively with moonshine and women, the Red Guard regiment crosses the Don. The Gromkovites in a panic run to Veshenskaya, where Grigory manages to pull up the equestrian hundreds of Karginsky regiment. He soon learns that the Tartars abandoned the trenches. Trying to stop the farmers, Gregory thrashes Christ with a whip of an unbridled camel gallop; Panteley Prokofievich, who runs tirelessly and briskly, also gets it, and Grigory, who does not recognize him from the back, calls him a son of a bitch and threatens to kill him. Quickly collecting and educating the farmers, Gregory orders them to join the Semyonovsky hundred. The Reds go on the offensive; machine-gun fire Cossacks force them to return to their original positions.

To the horror of Ilyinichna, the talkative Mishatka informs the Red Army man who came into the house that his father commands all the Cossacks. On the same day, the Reds are knocked out of Veshek and Pantelei Prokofievich returns home. Having left the banquet in honor of General Secret, Grigory comes to visit Aksinya and finds Stepan alone. Returning home, Aksinya eagerly drinks for the health of her lover, and looking for Gregory Prokhor with amazement sees him sitting at the same table with Stepan. At dawn, Gregory arrives home. Talking with Dunyashka, he orders her to leave even thoughts about Koshev. Gregory experiences an unprecedented surge of tenderness for Natalia. The next day, weary of vague forebodings, he leaves the farm. Grigory, together with his chief of staff Kopylov, is summoned to a meeting with General Fitzkhelaurov. During a reception between Gregory and the general, a quarrel occurs and the latter threatens to remove Gregory from the command of the division, to which Gregory declares that he submits only to Kudinov, and promises, if something happens, to incite his Cossacks to Fitzkhelaurov. After this skirmish, a strange indifference seizes Gregory; for the first time in his life, he decides to withdraw from direct participation in the battle.

Mitka Korshunov arrives at the Tatar farm. The cruelty characteristic of him since childhood has found a worthy application in a punitive detachment, and in a short time Mitka rose to the rank of sub-military. First of all, having visited his native ashes, he goes to the billets to the Melekhovs, who warmly welcome the guest. Having made inquiries about Koshevykh and found out that Mishka’s mother and children stayed at home, Mitka and her comrades kill them. Upon learning of this, Pantelei Prokofievich drives him from the yard, and Mitka, returning to his punitive detachment, goes to clean up the Ukrainian settlements of the Donetsk district.

Daria goes to the front to pick up cartridges and returns in a depressed state. The commander of the Don Army, General Sidorin, comes to the farm. Pantelei Prokofievich brings bread and salt to the general and representatives of the allies, and Daria, among other Cossack widows, is awarded the St. George medal and awarded her five hundred rubles. It categorically reflects all attempts by Pantelei Prokofievich to seize the money received "for Peter", although she gives Ilyinichna forty rubles to commemorate the deceased. Old people suspect that Daria is going to get married a second time, but her heart has a different concern. Daria admits to Natalya that during her trip she contracted syphilis and, since this disease is incurable, she is going to lay her hands on herself. Not wanting to suffer in solitude, she tells Natalya that Gregory again got along with Aksinya.

Soon after the retreat of the Reds, Gregory is removed from the post of division commander and, despite his requests to be sent to the rear for health reasons, they are appointed centurion of the Nineteenth Regiment. Cossack divisions are being disbanded: the entire command staff is being replaced, and privates are replenishing the numbering regiments of the Don Army. Arriving at the new duty station, Gregory receives tragic news from the house and, taking Prokhor with him, leaves, shocked by the grief that suddenly fell upon him.

... After talking with Daria, Natalya lives in a dream. She is trying to find out something from Prokhor’s wife, but the cunning woman remembers her husband’s order “to remain silent as dead,” and then Natalya goes to Aksinya. Having gone along with Ilyinichnaya weeding melon, Natalya talks about the mother-in-law about everything. A black cloud clouds the sky, a downpour begins, and during the thunder, the exhausted, sobbing Natalia prays to God to punish Gregory. Having calmed down a little, she tells Ilyinichna that she loves her husband and does not wish him harm, but she will not give birth from him anymore: she is pregnant for the third month and is going to go to grandmother Kapitonovna to free herself from the fetus. On the same day, Natalya furtively leaves the house and returns only in the evening, bleeding. An urgent paramedic, having examined Natalya, says that her uterus is completely torn and that she will die by dinner. Natalia says goodbye to the children, upset that she will not see Gregory. Soon she is dying.

Gregory arrives on the third day after the funeral of Natalia. In his own way, he loved his wife, and now his suffering is exacerbated by a sense of guilt for this death. Gregory gets closer to the children, but after two weeks, unable to bear the longing, he returns to the front. On the way, they meet Prokhor with Cossacks, carrying carts with looted goods, and deserters every now and then: the Don army is decaying at the moment of its highest success.

Soon after the departure of Gregory, Daria commits suicide by drowning in the Don. Ilyinichna forbids Mishatka to visit Aksinya, and a quarrel occurs between the women. In August Pantelei Prokofievich was called to the front; he deserts twice and finally acquires a certificate of inability to walk. Because of the danger of the Reds approaching the Veshki, the Melekhovs left Tatar for two weeks. From the front they bring the killed Christon and Anikushka, and after them - the patient with typhus Gregory. Having recovered, he, together with Aksinya and Prokhor, leaves the farm. On the way, Aksinya becomes ill with typhus, and Gregory is forced to leave her. Arriving at the end of January in White Clay, he learns that Pantelei Prokofievich died of typhus on the eve of January. Having buried his father, Gregory himself falls ill with typhus and survives only thanks to the loyalty and dedication of Prokhor. After moving to Novorossiysk, they try to evacuate by ship to Turkey, but, seeing the futility of their attempts, decide to stay home.

Aksinya returns home; anxiety for the life of Gregory brings her closer to the Melekhovs. It becomes known that Stepan left for Crimea, and soon Prokhor, who lost his hand, returns and reports that he and Gregory entered Konarmia, where Gregory took command of the squadron. Ilyinichna is looking forward to her son, but instead, Mishka Kosheva appears to the Melekhovs; trying to drive him away, Ilyinichna is faced with the open resistance of Dunyashka. Mishka continues to walk toward them, not at all embarrassed by the fact that his hands are stained with the blood of Peter, and in the end he gets his way: Ilyinichna agrees to his marriage with Dunyashka and soon dies, without waiting for Grigory to return. Kosheva ceases to engage in farming, believing that the Soviet government is still in danger, mainly because of elements such as Grigory and Prokhor Zykov, which Kosheva reports to the latter. Bear believes that the service of Gregory in the Red Army does not wash away his guilt for participating in the white movement and that upon returning home he will have to answer for the rebel uprising. Soon, Mishka was appointed chairman of the Veshensky Revolutionary Committee. Upon learning of the imminent demobilization and the return of Gregory, Dunyashka asks her husband what awaits her brother for service from the Cossacks, and Kosheva answers that they can also be shot.

Gregory is going home with the firm intention to take care of the household and live near his children, but a conversation with Koshev convinces him of the unrealizability of such plans. Having visited Prokhor, Grigory learns about the uprising that has begun in the Voronezh region and understands that this may threaten him, the former officer and rebel, with troubles. Between the case, Prokhor talks about the death of Eugene Listnitsky, who shot himself because of his wife’s infidelity. Yakov Fomin, met at Veshki, advises Gregory to leave the house for a while, as the arrests of officers began. Having taken the children, Gregory goes to live with Aksinya. Thanks to his sister, he manages to avoid arrest and escape from the farm. By the will of circumstances, he falls into the Fomin gang and is forced to remain in it. Fomin is going to destroy the commissars and communists and put his own Cossack power, but these good intentions do not find support among the population, tired of the war even more than from the Soviet power.

Gregory decides to leave the gang as soon as possible. Having met a farmer's acquaintance, he asks to give a bow to Prokhor and Dunyasha, and Aksinie to say that she was waiting for his soon return. Meanwhile, the gang suffers defeat after defeat and the soldiers are engaged in looting with might and main. Soon the red units complete the rout and out of the entire Fomin gang only five people survive, including Grigory and Fomin himself. The fugitives settle on a small island against the Rubezhnoye farm. In late April, they cross the Don to merge with the Maslak gang. Gradually forty people from various small gangs join Fomin, and he offers Gregory to take the place of chief of staff. Gregory refuses and soon escapes from Fomin. Arriving at the farm at night, he goes to Aksinya and invites her to leave for the Kuban, temporarily leaving the children in the care of Dunyashka. Having abandoned the house and household, Aksinya leaves with Gregory. Having rested in the steppe, they are going to go further when an outpost comes across them. The fugitives manage to escape from the chase, but one of the bullets fired after them mortally wounds Axinho. Shortly before dawn, without regaining consciousness, she dies in the arms of Gregory. Having buried Axinho, Gregory raises his head and sees a black sky above him and a dazzlingly shining black disk of the sun.

Having wandered aimlessly across the steppe, he decides to go to Slashchevskaya oak forest, where deserters live in dugouts. From Chumakova met there, Grigory learns about the defeat of the gang and the death of Fomin. For six months he lives, trying not to think about anything and chasing poisonous longing from his heart, and at night he dreams of children, Aksinya and other deceased loved ones. In early spring, not waiting for the amnesty promised by May 1, Gregory decides to return home. Approaching his native home, he sees Mishatka, and his son is everything that still makes Gregory related to the earth and to the whole huge world shining under the cold sun.