Russian wartime drama following a suspected Nazi collaborator's experience on the western frontier of the USSR. Under heavy German occupation, Sushenya (Vladimir Svirskiy)'s village is split between the partisans and the helpless. When an attack against the Germans leaves Sushenya headed for the gallows, he is fully aware of his intended fate, but when a Nazi officer decides to set him free it leaves his allegiance open to speculation. Rejected by his wife and pursued by his peers, he is soon left to fend for himself in a purgatorial void where the difference between friends and enemies becomes obscure.