The young soldier Vasily Lemekhov has returned from the hospital and met a young woman Natasha in Chisinau.
About the events of the final stage of the Second World War — the defeat by Soviet and Mongolian troops of the selected Kwantung army. Bacteriological weapons were created in the laboratory of Japanese General Ishii Shiro. Experiments were conducted on prisoners of war and political prisoners. Epidemiologist Dmitry Sokolov was assigned to solve the mystery of this laboratory. At the cost of his own life, he completed the task. The march of Soviet and Mongolian formations through the Gobi sands and the Khingan spurs was not only a brilliant military operation, but also a warning of the use of bacteriological weapons by Japan.
Three Soviet prisoners of war escape from a fascist concentration camp at the end of the war. One of the guards helps them and runs with them. Many years later, this former German henchman meets one of the escapees and comes up with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe destruction of all the fugitives with whom he once escaped from a concentration camp; they abandoned him wounded during the escape. He begins to put his cruel plan into action, deciding to take revenge and thereby getting rid of witnesses to his crimes in the concentration camp...
This lyrical film novel tells about the crew of a small tugboat, about love, friendship, humanity and purity of relationships.