Tverdokhlebov was captured by the Germans at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. All those who refused to fight on the side of the fascists were shot, but he survived by a miracle. Wounded, he got out at night from a terrible grave and reached his.

Tverdokhlebov will have to organize a battle-worthy detachment. He appoints the mouths of Baukin and Glymov as commanders. Glymov reluctantly assumes the role of chief, knowing that his wards can escape from the very first battle. But Tverdokhlebov warns that the penalty crews in any case sent to death - if not from the Nazi bullet in battle, then from the bullet of the NKVD detachment.

In the battle for the height of 114 killed 500 people. In the battalion there were only 200 fighters. Hungry, tired, but inspired by their first victory, the soldiers play cards. The game ends in a fight. Vityunya demands back the chain he lost, and he is killed. The battalion commander orders Glymov to shoot Tsypu, who killed Vitka.

And again the Tverdokhlebov battalion goes on the attack. For the young Tsukerman this is the first battle in his life. He got into the penal battalion for fighting with his captain, who insulted him, calling him a Jew. The young soldier can not stand the test of the first battle: to get rid of this nightmare, he shoots his foot and gets to the hospital.

In the hospital, Tsukerman meets Captain Bredunov, because of a fight with which he got into the penal battalion. They again arrange a fight, the wounded barely manage to separate them in different directions, so that the matter does not reach the murder.

In the village liberated from the Germans Glymov meets Katerina, the woman with whom he for the first time in his life wanted to stay forever. The leadership decides to drop Tverdokhlebov's penalty battalion on a well-fortified by the Germans plot, to carry out reconnaissance by the battle and to gain a foothold there.