Rodion Avramenko

The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.

Moscow. 1937. Thirteen-year-old Nikita is on the threshold of adolescence. He is full of hopes and dreams, which are interrupted at dawn by an insistent knock at the door. NKVD officers have come for his father. Nikita's parents task him with getting rid of incriminating documents kept at home. Nikita, attempting to carry out this task, comes face to face with the commissar. Now the hero faces a difficult choice: hand over the documents or put up a desperate resistance.

Vlada gets out of prison, gets a job as a barmaid and tries to establish a new life. But suspicion of murder falls on her.