Bela Frankl, a young Hungarian, is taken prisoner by Russia during the First World War, defects to the side of the revolution and some time later, under the pseudonym Mate Zalka, becomes a famous Soviet writer. In 1936, having arrived as a volunteer in Spain, he becomes General Lukacs, forms the 12th International Brigade of non-professional fighters and takes the first heavy battles with Franco's cadre formations...

About the first expedition of Shura, a graduate of the Geological Institute, and her first love.