The film takes place in the beginning of the 20th century in a
Roma camp on the
Tisza river in the
Zakarpattia region on the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Loiko Zobar is a horse thief who is injured and chased off into the woods while attempting to steal horses from the army. He is found by Rada, who heals his gunshot wound before disappearing. They meet again when Zobar encounters Bucha, a man who lives at the same encampment as Rada, at the market and the two return to her camp. He realizes she is the same woman who healed him, and resolves to impress her. Antol Siladi, a landowner and nobleman, also falls in love with Rada after meeting her in the city. He asks Rada's father to
buy her, but he refuses. Rada then rejects him in full view of her camp, and he curses her. Zobar steals a white mare to give to Rada, leading to attempts on his arrest from authorities. While hiding, he gets his affairs in order by sending his friend Talimin to collect a debt from the house of Balint. Balint refuses to pay for the horses he was given, and orders his servant to kill Talimin in the stables. When soldiers raid Zobar's encampment, his younger sister Rusalina makes resistance attempts. Zobar's father finally agrees to give them his location after they threaten to kill the community's horses. Zobar is caught and sentenced to death by
hanging. He escapes with the help of Bubulya, who is killed in the conflict. After burying him, Zobar catches up with Rada's camp and presents the mare to her. The two bond on the river bank, and Rada tells him that in the morning they should wed. When he wakes up, Zobar discovers that the camp, including Rada, had moved on without him. He finds them with the help of a Romani medicine woman who stayed behind, and he publicly asks Rada for her hand in marriage. She whips his legs and turns him down, saying that he must kneel for her. He refuses, demanding she give him her hand first, and when she does not comply he becomes enraged and stabs her in the chest, killing her. Rada's father, having witnessed the exchange, kills Zobar in revenge by stabbing him in the back. ==Cast==