Summer 1942. A fierce battle begins near Stalingrad, the outcome of which will decide the fate of the whole world. Twenty-year-old sergeant Lyubomir Zukh, who has not yet sniffed gunpowder, left his unit in the front-line zone to say goodbye to his girlfriend. He was away from the unit for only three hours. But according to the laws of the military time he is a deserter. And the punishment for this alone is execution. The sentence is too harsh, and everyone understands this. Will the flywheel of the military machine stop, will there be a pardon order?