During the Russian war with Afghanistan in the 1980s, journalist Charlie Palmer and medic Victor Davis arrive at a P.O.W. camp near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in order to document the sub-human conditions which the prisoners are forced to endure. During their visit, the prisoners seize control of the camp and begin to enact a series of terrible and bloody punishments on their captors. Held as hostages, Palmer and Davis are forced to witness acts of barbarity unlike any they have ever seen before.

The final part of Mikhalkov's trilogy about Divisional Commander Kotov finds him returning home during World War II having been betrayed, narrowly escaped execution for treason and nearly reduced to dust in a prison camp. Only to discover that everything has changed and he will have to fight again for his name, for his honor, and for his love.