The film is set during the dark years of the German Occupation of Crete, depicting the Resistance Movement, the heroism of the local people, brave acts of sabotage, and the will to be free and fall in love in times of war. Throughout the movie, the famous Cretan mantinades, the musical declamation of rhyming couplets, accompany the pear-shaped, three-stringed Cretan musical instrument, the Lyra.