A veteran of the Great Patriotic War finds his front-line diary and relives the story that happened to him in the midst of the war. In the midst of fire, blood and dirt, he, then still a young Sashka, takes prisoner the same German boy. The enemy is preparing for death, but a young soldier gives him his word that Russian prisoners are not shot. Later, at the headquarters, saddened by the death of a combat friend, the battalion commander gives the order to shoot the prisoner. Sasha faces the most important choice in his life.

A grieving heart surgeon struggling with the loss of his wife drifts through an emotionally detached life while raising his teenage daughter. His chance encounter with a dominatrix awakens feelings he thought were gone, drawing him into a dark and unconventional world where pain and desire intertwine.