The story is based on the history of Soviet propaganda about a young pioneer Pawliku Morozov, who denounced his father's secret police and in retaliation was killed by his family. His life was an inspiration for all the "right" of citizens of the Soviet Union. The protagonist is 10-year-old Janis. The boy is a pioneer and lives in a collective farm called "Dawn" in today's Latvia. His father is an enemy of the kolkhoz (and the Soviet system) and intends to burn the headquarters directorates. Small Janis betrays his father and seems militia, for which his father takes revenge by killing Janis. Who in the Soviet parable is good and who is bad?