The novel takes place after the 1917 revolution, during the Civil War.

A huge stream of people - either a camp of immigrants, or an army - entered the Cossack village. There are no Cossacks, only women and children. On the mound near the windmills a rally. The people scream, rebel, want to disperse, but nowhere else - around the enemies. A man with iron jaws is trying to persuade, but he is swung at him with a bayonet, a cry is heard: "Hit them!" Suddenly, everything was silent. A man in blood rode on horseback: “The Cossacks are coming!” They began to choose a commander. Chose an iron casing.

Night, tin kerosene lamp without glass, on the floor - a huge map of the Caucasus. The headquarters is discussing the situation, but whatever you say, people are trapped: on one side of the mountain, on the other - the sea. Commanders offer to take Novorossiysk and sit there. The casing decided: to reach Tuapse, cross the main ridge along the highway and connect with the main forces. They do not agree with the Casing, everyone is convinced of their rightness.

A distant shot rang out, then sprinkled, as if from a sieve, and fell silent. The casing sent Prikhodko to find out what happened. Alexei Prikhodko walked through the sleeping camp, reached a familiar place, there - Anka. The girl is beautiful, stately, would marry her. And immediately a thin, tender neck of a girl, a schoolgirl, emerges; blue eyes, white dress. A bride whom he had never seen, but which is somewhere. Prikhodko turned away from Anka, went on. Under one of the carts, a young mother cooes over the child. How much love and joy in her voice. Each has his own. Prikhodko reported the Casing and went to bed.

The night exploded with a clink of iron, clanging, banging, screaming - the Cossacks attacked. The casing sits in front of the hut, his face is calmly iron, gives orders. He sees how soldiers obediently and flexibly carry out orders, how accurately commanders carry out his orders. The convoy began to retreat across the bridge, and soon left the village. The bridge was destroyed.

The Kuban is rich in both land and its bowels. The owners here are Cossacks. Not themselves came - the tsarina Katka drove them here, destroyed the free Zaporizhzhya Sich. Then the people persecuted by want reached the Kuban. And the migrants became laborers from the Cossacks. In October, something happened in faraway Russia, and shelves tumbled down from the Turkish front. And in the Kuban there is already Soviet power, and heads are flying from the officers. Then the time came to divide the land, and the Kuban darkened, an internecine war broke out.

They rebuilt the bridge, its Cossack troops quickly crossed — they were in a hurry to catch up with the red enemy.

Endless wagons move creaking. This is not the first time that migrants have risen like this, but now it stretches too long, the bread ends. Standing out in orderly rows, figures in Circassian circles, a column of Kuban Cossacks rides on good horses — not enemies, but revolutionaries, Cossack poor.

The Shroud lovingly looks at this crowd, because he is one of them. From the age of six - a public shepherdess. Then the boy in the shop by the fist - slowly and learned to read and write. Then the war, the Turkish front. The casing is a great machine gunner. For unprecedented courage he was sent to the school of ensigns. With bullish stubbornness, he defeated his studies - and cut himself off. They laughed around: stupid cattle climb into the officers. He was returned to the regiment as incapable. And one goal is to break out into people. For the second time, the casing is sent to the school of ensigns - officers are in short supply, and his soldiers love him for him. It was difficult to learn, scoffed, cut on the answers, although he answered correctly. And sent to the regiment for failure. He is sent to school for the third time. And he achieved it - they scornfully released the ensign. He returned to the regiment - on the shoulders of gold shoulder straps. Glittering on the shoulders it separated from the soldiers, but it was not brought closer to the officers. Around the casing closed an empty circle. He calmly, stone hated and despised the officers. And suddenly a revolution surged. In disgust, the casing tore off shoulder straps and returned home. In the villages, in the farms, in the villages - Soviet power. Traces of such hard-won shoulder straps burned shoulders. Then the Kuban began to boil - and the Soviet government brushed aside. And now the Shroud rides in the midst of a convoy.

At the last station in front of the mountains tens of thousands of people lost their way. Smolokurov also came up with his column. Nobody wanted to go further, but the column of the Casing came out - and everyone rushed after him. And an endless living snake crawled into the mountains. They walked all night. In the morning we went to the pass. The city was whitewashed below, and the sea beyond.

The German commandant, who was on the battleship "Goeben", noticed an unexpected movement in the city. He ordered the convoy to stop, but the dusty gray snake slowly crawled away. Another stream of loaded wagons began to pour into this endless stream of swearing. Sailors were visible on them. The commandant, without waiting for the stop, fired a salvo along the train, then the second. The explosion turned Anki’s cart over and the horse fell. A young mother killed a child. High on the pass appeared people, horses. And immediately there gasped four times. Here and there, people, horses, cows began to fall with a groan, but the snake crawled all the same without opening. The long trunk of the gun on the battleship rose, gasped in a huge tongue of flame, and crashed there, at the pass. From there, they started shooting at the battleship. The Goeben stepped out of the bay, turned around and exploded with a deafening roar. From an inhuman concussion, the earth settled, mutilated people who looked like the dead appeared on all the streets, crawled after the wagon train. They do not take - there is nothing to feed. The convoy leaves, and Cossacks enter the city from the opposite side.

Night has passed, the sun is already high, and the column is still going. The people began to murmur, sailors poured oil on the fire, brandishing revolvers, called for a rebellion against the Casing, remembered his officer past. They stopped at night. The fires of fires were lit, a talk was heard, laughter, the sounds of an accordion. On one of the carts, a terrible, silent woman holds the body of a child in her arms. Should be buried - does not give. They ran after her husband, Stepan. And around people eat, sleep, sing, dance, talk. Sailors walk around the camp, beat up a riot, but the men do not listen to them, laugh. Stepan came running, took, buried his son.

Finally everyone fell asleep, only the window of a rich villa shines. There, the Casing leaned over a huge map of the Caucasus. He is told that people were driven out, that there is nothing to eat, but the Casing insists on one thing: "We must go - this is salvation." After long disputes, they signed an order: for violation of discipline, disobedience to the order - execution.

Morning. The convoy has been going on for a long time. The second and third columns are far behind. When they stopped for the night, sailors also walked between bonfires, but people no longer laughed - they listened. And just as in the empty cottage, the command staff of all the columns gathered, there was not only the Casing. Each of them considered himself called upon to save these people, but no one knew how. Finally, we decided to choose a boss over all the columns. They chose the good-natured but stubborn hero of Smolokurov. At once it became clear to everyone: the Shroud was to blame all around. He makes everyone go after him. Smolokurov decided to take a short road through the ridge. He sent an order to the Casing, but he went farther and was inaccessible. Smolokurov had no choice but to follow.

At the next halt to the Casing, a huge crowd of sailors came to demand provisions. “Become a member of the army, we will enlist for allowance,” Kozhukh answered them calmly. Suddenly, the sailors rushed from all sides to the wagon casing. The machine gun flashed in the wagon, but not a single bullet hit the people, and only the wind of death frightened the sailor caps. All rushed in all directions. The camp was quiet.

Before the sky brightened, the head of the column was already crawling along the highway. The houses of the town turned white. The locals, the Greeks, do not have bread. They took all the goats. In the Russian village, they didn’t share what they could, but they picked up all the chickens, geese and ducks as if they were in a mountain valley. At an empty cottage they found a gramophone and a bunch of records. The gramophone became a common favorite, yelling from morning to evening.

The scout jumped up and reported: in front of the Cossacks. The casing tried to separate the convoy with women and children from the main army, so as not to interfere, but nothing came of it. And again, everyone walked at random along the highway, sometimes diving into the forest and stuffing their bellies with wild apples, sour acid and unripe corn.

The road was blocked by a bridge. Behind the bridge there are enemies, on the sides of the mountain, you can only go forward. The casing ordered the Cossack detachment: to take the bridge from Mach. And they took it. Georgian units behind the bridge rushed to leave, but only officers managed to escape.

The highway stretched into a narrow corridor - cliffs squeezed along its sides. There is nothing. Over the bend, the gorge was heard. The mountain range blocked the path, and at the very top - enemy trenches. You can’t get through - they are firing machine guns. The casing does not know what to do. Then two came up to him. They met Russians in the forest, who undertook to bypass the train, along mountain trails. The casing sent all three squadrons, gave the order: to get around from the rear, break into the city, destroy everyone.

The young, handsome Georgian prince, Colonel Mikheladze, himself chose this post. This he will cut off the head of a poisonous reptile that crawls along the coast. An unbearably animal roar blew everything around. The colonel ran like a hare, but one thing in his head: to be saved at all costs. Not saved - hacked with a saber.

The convoy crawled into the city. There is everything: clothes, medicine, ammunition; not only food. They began to rob the city, but the Casing quickly stopped this, forced to hand over all the loot for general use.

The endlessly wriggling snake crawled back into the mountains, to the pass, to crawl back into the steppes, where there is bread and fodder, where they are waiting for their own. By evening, the forests ran out, pulled cold from the mountains. Suddenly a powerful stream of water surged from the sky, occasionally illuminated by white flashes of lightning. That night many people died. And in the morning - the road, heat, rocks. Children no longer cry - no strength. When a horse falls, mothers carry children in their arms, and if there are many of them, they leave them in a cart and leave without looking back. Finally the pass. The highway loops down.

The Kuban from the passage reported: about thirty miles ahead, behind the river, the Cossacks were digging trenches. The casing decided to go around them in the country. People walked in a huge crowd, salty jokes were heard, a gramophone was screaming. Suddenly, everything fell silent: four corpses hung on nearby telegraph poles - one of them was female. On paper nailed to the first pillar, it was written that these were executed Bolsheviks. The rumble of footsteps sounded evenly and measuredly, as if one man was walking, and all hearts were beating as one. Part by part, it approaches those pillars, and from the horde it turns into an army, into an iron stream, and goes, accelerating its step more and more.

At the highway exit from the mountains, Cossacks eagerly await. They have information that gangs from the mountains bring with them untold looted wealth. But not people, but devils fell upon the Cossacks. The Cossacks rushed in all directions, and when the sun rose, not one of them was alive. The casing is satisfied: the army is in his hands, as an instrument, obedient and flexible. At night, again, an assault, and again the Cossacks flee. The village is busy.

The Cossacks were defeated, but the Casing did not budge - waiting for the lagging columns. Cossacks gathered strength, and at the casing ran out of ammunition. The casing gathers a meeting, does not want to take responsibility.

Far behind, the Cossacks attacked the lagging columns. They thought it was easy prey before them, but they saw the devils and fled without looking back.

At the meeting, they decided: to move on without waiting for the stragglers. The casing gave the order - to prepare for a breakthrough. Just before the breakthrough came a column of Smolokurov. The breakthrough came with devilish force. General Pokrovsky collected the remnants of the army and led to Yekaterinburg, completely clearing the "tramp" road.

Harnessing all forces, there is an iron stream. Cossack units part without a shot, clearing the way. There is only one goal - to catch up with ours, but the red parts quickly leave, burning bridges behind them. Then the Casing decided to send forward messengers in a captured car. Young Selivanov called out, took with him two soldiers. At maximum speed, they roamed to the location of the Reds. The commanders did not believe Selivanov, read out the intercepted radio telegram of General Pokrovsky to General Denikin. It reported that there was an innumerable horde of tramp from the sea, sweeping away all in its path - both white and red. That is why the Reds blew up bridges behind them. They did not believe it, but, nevertheless, they decided to check, and the car goes back, accompanied by a cavalry squadron.

That night, the sailors made the last attempt to destroy the Casing, but it failed.

The next morning the two armies met. One is tattered, but standing in an iron formation, and the other is well-fed and clothed, but loose, demoralized. The casing climbed onto the wagon and made a speech. Tears flowed down the weathered faces, and it became clear to everyone what they were fighting for, starving for, and losing children. Not only for saving his life, but for Soviet power. Sailors broke through to the Wagon’s wagon, repented, asked for forgiveness, called the Shroud “Old Man”. Speakers spoke until evening. People learned about the Red Army. There was a growing sense of inseparability for everyone with the bulk called Soviet Russia.

Evening. Quietly flowing dream. Bonfires go out. Silence. Blue night