Russian provincial town in the middle of the 1930s Stalin's Great Purge. Ivan Lapshin, the head of the local police, does what he has to do. And he does it well.

1934. After the suppression of the uprising of the Schutzbund workers, engineer Hans Müller leaves Austria and emigrates to the USSR. In Russia Hans finds his love. His relationship with Galina is not simple. Her son Sanka agonizes over the arrival of a stranger in the house. But, in the end, Hans wins the boy's trust. When in Spain begins the Frankist rebellion, Hans voluntarily goes to fight in the ranks of the interbrigade. And after the liberation of Vienna, he returns to his homeland.