The film deals with the conflicts and contradictions in Bulgarian society during a period stretching from the early thirties to the end of World War II, and stars Nevena Kokanova as Irina, an aspiring medicine student, and Yordan Matev as Boris, an ambitious man from a working class background.

In August 1951, the publishing house Narodna Kultura received an internal review of Dimitar Dimov's novel Tobacco from the literary critic Pantelei Zarev.

This did not become public knowledge, but word of mouth spread in literary circles, and in the same month, the Union of Bulgarian Writers nominated Tobacco for the Dimitrov Prize.

At the forum itself, Dimov was criticized for "bending" the party doctrine, and in February of the same year, the Literature Front newspaper published several reviews in a row that criticised the novel.

Chervenkov attempted to protect Dimov and his work through articles in the Worker's Deed, but literary critics were almost unanimous in their insistence on corrections in the novel.

Forced by the circumstances, Dimov revised his novel and added 260 new pages, in which he explained the principles of the story from a Marxist point of view.

Korabov wrote the characters' plot lines, as well as the film's episodes and composition, while Dimov worked on the dialogues.

When she leaves the countryside to study medicine in Sofia, Boris marries Maria, the daughter of the owner of the Nicotiana tobacco factory.

Boris makes deals with German entrepreneurs, while Sofia is bombed by the Allies, and Irina becomes increasingly aware of his true nature.