Based on the motifs of M. Bulhakow's story with the same title. The thing about the scientist-zoologist Persikow, whose unique invention makes the rate of formation and development of organisms grow thousands of times. The experiment subjects eggs of the anaconda, which by mistake go to the mad director of the model chicken farm, dealing with rebuilding the hen population in the country. Irradiated reptiles, hatching from eggs, start to devour.

In a small community in the Ural mountains of Russia in 1953, just after Stalin's death, Barracks begins with the arrival of Olga (Irina Senotova). Olga is alone, her entire family wiped out by a Stalinist purge in Leningrad. She is soon romanced by a militiaman named Alexei, who serves as the community liaison to the government