In 1848, the Habsburg Empire's tyranny cast a dark shadow over Eastern Europe. In Pest-Buda, a young firebrand poet Petofi Sándor dreams of an independent Hungary, and when a revolt breaks out in Vienna, he seizes the moment, and with his friends goes to the streets. Here they declare their 12 demands for independence and Petofi recites the "National Song," which fast becomes the revolution's anthem. Little do they know that the Austrians have tasked a secret police agent, the Hungarian turncoat Farkasch, to thwart the uprising and eliminate Petofi! The cunning Farkasch's fanatical pursuit of the mission leads to a tense cat and mouse game with deadly consequences…