V Sibir, na poiski Marii - plemyannitsy druga - pribyvaet byvshiy ofitser Sergey Gushchin. V gorode Chuyske on vstrechaet starogo odnopolchanina Stepana Zatsepina, kotorogo schital pogibshim. V Kerzhantsakh Gushchin nakhodit Mariyu. Issleduya byt starinnykh taezhnykh poseleniy, Mariya odnazhdy dobralas do Kerzhantsov, i sluchilas zdes u gorodskoy devushki strastnaya dyubov s mestnym okhotnikom Kondratom. Ot Marii Gushchin uznaet, chto privetlivo vstretivshiy ego Zatsepin, skolotiv "voysko", derzhit v strakhe vsyu okrugu, a Kerzhantsy Zatsepin obeshchaet spalit, esli mestnye zhiteli ne vernut emu zolotoy klad pradeda, kotoryy i osnoval derevnyu. Protivostoyat Zatsepinu reshaetsya lish Kondrat, lyubimyy Marii. Gushchin okazyvaetsya v vodovorote sobytiy i emu predstoit sdelat glavnyy v zhizni vybor: poddatsya ugovoram Zatsepina i, vlivshis v ego voysko, razbogatet ili vstat na zashchitu zhiteley kerzhantsov. Vse obostryayut vspykhnuvshie u samogo Gushchina chuvstva k zhivushchey v Chuyske Vere.