Peter the Great, on becoming czar of Russia, using his knowledge of shipbuilding gained in a foreign country to establish a navy, and to be able to use the navy, provokes a war with Sweden, defeating that country at the battle of Poltava. This battle marks a turning point with Peter and with Russia, his only son proves a coward, he meets a girl refugee and finally makes her his empress, he alienates the church and many nobles. All these factors finally lead to a conspiracy which, while it is crushed, ends in Peter finding out how he is hated by his people, and in his killing of his son, the remorse for which hastens his own death.