The village idiot lives in a hut with his sick mother. His neighbors are the Jewish family of the local blacksmith Mendel, and the guy is secretly in love with his youngest daughter Sonya.

1905. A Jewish Shtetl. Shimek and Buzya are two 10 year olds. Of course, she is a princess and he is a prince. They live in the same yard, in neighboring palaces. What Buzya really means to him, Shimek begins to understand only years later when, far away from home, when he receives the news that Buzya is about to be married off.

WWII 1942: Rzhev, USSR. Stuck in a crucial strategical position, a small company from the Red Army does whatever it takes to fend off the Nazis.