Follows a young soldier and poet at the beginning of World War II in 1941. After being wounded while trying to save his commander, he finds himself behind enemy lines and goes through an arduous journey of survival and trials as he makes his way to a partisan detachment. Throughout his ordeal, the soldier reads poems by wartime poets.
Soviet propaganda film. After the end of the WWII, a group of bridge builders comes to the village of Lyubotin, but around them, disturbing the peaceful life, the “Banderites“ are rampaging around.
A tronka, a sheep bell made from a trophy shell casing, symbolises peace from war. In the Ukrainian steppe, where shepherds use tronkas, a military training ground exists. Major Uralov, an officer, marries a local woman, and they have a daughter, Alenka, who dies. After her death, the Uralovs leave the steppe with the military unit, enduring their grief but remaining unbroken. Based on a novel by Oles Honchar.
