Once, after the rain on Thursday, the firstborn is delivered to King Avdey. The same day a boy is born to the housekeeper of Varvara, and a newborn is found in the cabbage. All three are called Ivan - and Avdey is ordered to raise the boys together. However, the housekeeper does her own way: she puts her Ivan into the imperial cradle, and gives the other two away for hard labor. Twenty years pass, and before Ivan the task arises to free himself, to defeat Koschei the Immortal and to release the beautiful princess Milolika ...