The events of this film take place in the 1920s – a time of vehement strife for the Soviet power. The film is about the Soviet attempt to deal with the problems of opium traffic and drug smuggling in the Issyk-Kul region and to bring that area under the Soviet control. In the film, the smugglers not only engage in trafficking opium to China but also exert psychological pressure on the people in the region, trying to make them leave. The film tells a story about social and class differences. The plot of “The Red Poppies of Issyk-Kul” is based on the novella by Aleksandr Sytin, “The Smugglers of Tyan-Shan”.