1942, a remote village in the rear. Sixteen-year-old Semka decides to volunteer for the partisans. Irina seeks to keep her son by force. However, the only one she can turn to for help is her nephew, a policeman. The movie is based on the story of the same name by Vasil Bykov.

Chronicle of the life of shift workers in a mining pit in Eastern Siberia. Workers spend a significant part of their lives away from home and loved ones, doing physical labor for 12 hours a day for the only decent income in their region.