A woman is led by her family to her new husband's home, to live with, presumably, his elderly mother and younger brother. Despite being forced into the marriage, she discovers that he is not such a bad catch after all but domestic bliss does not last long.

Karlygash (translated from Kazakh as "swallow") lives with her husband Ilyas and father-in-law on a horse farm, lost in the Kazakh steppe. Karlygash is a stranger to everyone here, and Ilyas has not yet forgotten about his first love for a girl named Aina. Everything changes with the arrival of a foreigner in their village - Frenchman Louis, a photographer who went on a trip after breaking up with his wife.

Karasai's parent Altynai prepares his son for subsequent participation in battles from an early age, teaching the boy various martial arts and skills. The boy willingly listens to his father's recommendations, and already in childhood he confidently uses a whip and a sword. When Karasai turns into an adult youth, a period of famine sets in, from which the relatives of the young man suffer. The guy leads the herds of his fellow tribesmen to fertile arable land, and soon aggressive Dzungars attack the lands of his people.