A group of soldiers is stuck on the Russian-Chechen border near the field which locals call dead.

Rita is a naive 18-year-old from the sticks who has come to Moscow to meet up with the man who impregnated her a few months earlier. Unfortunately, his name and address was written on a piece of paper in her luggage, which was promptly stolen upon her arrival in Moscow. Thus, she is a bit at loose ends, and going back home is clearly not an option.

This is a story about the battle for a hospital building in Grozny (Chechnya) in January 1995 between Russian Army forces and Chechen rebels supported by Arabian mujahideen and international mercenaries. Although the story is fictional, most of the characters are based on real-life prototypes and events are the compilation of true events during the Grozny Siege in the First Chechen War.

Cadets from naval academies set sail on the training ship Nadezhda for the shores of Australia. They were about to cross several seas for the first time, sail across the ocean, and take part in an international sailing regatta. For most of the young men, this was their first time at sea, and this voyage would determine who among them would become a true sailor and who would have to leave the fleet.

A certain Hawthorne approaches a young, talented, but not very famous actress Elda with an unusual request. He offers her, for an impressive sum, to play the role of Angotea, the wife of the dying Ferguson, who has disappeared and to whom Elda is extremely similar in appearance.