The short, twelve-chapter novel follows the fortunes of a small tribal group in rural Poland, the Lesniks. At the outset, Krol Rudy (the Red King), a Pole, controls the Lesnik camp. The Lesnik leader, Cybula, has fled with others into the mountains. Krol Rudy takes Laska, Cybula's surviving daughter, as his wife, and he sets the Lesniks to clearing fields for the planting of grain. Krol Rudy also sends Nosek, a trusted associate, to persuade Cybula and other Lesniks to return to the lowland camp and live in peace under his rule.

Krol Rudy brings about several forms of cultural conflict. The Lesniks had been nomadic, forest-dwelling hunters and food gatherers. They have lost many men in battle with the Poles; many of their women have been raped and some are carrying children of the raiders; and they are unlikely to survive a hard winter in the mountains...