All his children and his wife, Manushak, are brutally beaten and killed whilst he is tied to a beam and forced to witness the destruction of his village.
Left for dead, Nahapet is able to make his way to a bleak and cold village in Aragats (filmed in Dian, Talin), a part of the new state of Soviet Armenia.
With encouragement from his brother-in-law and friend Apro (Frunzik Mkrtchyan), Nahapet reluctantly begins a new relationship with a woman named Noubar (Sofik Sarkisyan).
But the pair are estranged from one another from the start and the scenes from the film show candid but silent moments of the two attempting to find ways to build a new life and trying to survive with what little they have.
As Nahapet is working outside one day he hears the wailing of a newborn and rushes to his home's wooden door, collapsing on it with the tears and with the full realisation that building a new future after suffering such deprivations in life is possible.