1927. On Khudjoum, a campaign for the unveiling of women is organized. Kadyr, a former Red Guard, has become chairman of the Ak-Tash village soviet. He wants to create a new world and, to begin with, rid women of the parandja. But the first one who throws off her veil is murdered. He then changes his goal and begins, not without difficulty, a literacy campaign. But Kadyr's own wife, Goulsara, does not succeed in breaking free from the grip of tradition. She would like her husband to take her to live elsewhere, where they are not known. He refuses. The enemies of change try to kill him. Only then do the women begin to understand the stakes of this struggle and decide together to throw their veils into the fire.
