Because of poverty a large number of people is leaving the countryside and go to Pireus as refugees. On a spot outside the town they build shacks to live in. One day the industrialist Koumarianos orders his workers to tear down the shacks, as he wants to build a factory on the same spot. Andreas, one of the dwellers, tries to stop the workers. During the fight he is knocked down. When his old mother looks at his bloody head, she gets a heart attack and drops dead. Shortly afterwards also Mr. Koumarianos dies. Several years later the worker Andreas happens to fall in love with a rich, young woman called Xenia. When it turns out that Xenia is Mr. Koumarianos`s daughter, the past starts casting its shadow over their impassioned relationship. But their love is stronger than their memories of wrongs in the past. A much bigger problem is Andreas`s working class community, which strongly opposes his liaison with the daughter of Mr. Koumarianos. They try to tear Andreas and Xenia apart.
