During World War II, a mountain village priest, Pop Vecherko, unwittingly shelters a disguised partisan and helps run an underground press that prints the Communist Manifesto under the guise of hagiography. When a misdelivered package reaches the Synod and triggers mass arrests of clergy, a chance grenade explosion orchestrated by local children creates chaos, allowing Vecherko and his unsuspecting ally, the mayor, to slip away unnoticed.