[3] The film portrays the events that led to the flight of Yanukovych in February 2014 as a coup d'état orchestrated by the United States with the help of far-right Ukrainian factions.

It then maintains that the free market economy which was introduced after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the "crazy 1990s", gave rise to a small class of oligarchs who acquired vast wealth and power, while leaving the majority of the population in poverty.

The film mentions the Orange Revolution in which Ukrainians rejected a fraudulent presidential election, and then portrays some aspects of the Maidan protests, including the negotiations over a trade agreement with the European Union, the role of NGOs, and the appearance of US politicians such as Chris Murphy and John McCain.

After that, the film presents Oliver Stone's interviews with Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin, in which they expound their view of the situation in 2013 regarding the trade agreement and why negotiations were paused.

The film also covers selected aspects of the events leading to Yanukovych's removal from office by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, claiming that the impeachment against him was unconstitutional.

Finally, the film presents events of the following months, including the invasion and annexation of Crimea by Russia, the war in eastern Ukraine, and the downing of the airliner MH17 by a Russian missile.

[17] Writing in Collectible Dry, Antonio Armano criticized that the film does not mention either Stalin's dekulakization or the Holodomor, a man-made famine organized by the Soviet regime, events which he argues may explain why the Nazi occupation during World War II was seen by some Ukrainians as welcomed liberation.

[18] James Kirchick of The Daily Beast called the film a "dictator suckup",[7] noting that "Yanukovych ceased being president on 22 February 2014 because he fled Kiev, rendering himself incapable of performing his presidential duties under the Ukrainian constitution.