In 1837 two Romanian peasants stumbled upon an ancient hoard of gold and jewels on a bleak hill-side near their village. Within three years the peasants were dead, the treasure smashed to pieces and several of the pieces had disappeared without trace. The damaged objects were reconstituted by experts and then stolen in a Rififi-type burglary. Recovered once more they were given to Russia for safekeeping a year or so before the October Revolution of 1917. They were returned to Romania only in 1956. This dramatised story of the treasure is based in exact detail on the files of 19th-century criminal trials of the principal characters involved, who are played by members of the ROMANIAN NATIONAL THEATRE COMPANY.