1944, Artek. The girl Nadia, along with the children of the German captain, paints ribbons for the wish tree. The Germans do not want to surrender Crimea, but Vera Nadezhda lights the red banner of Soviet soldiers on Mount Ayu-Dag, predicting the enemy's imminent defeat.
1943. On the outskirts of besieged Leningrad, three children and their mother, who is too weak to go into the forest in search of food, remain in an empty village. One day, the sons go on the road themselves and find themselves faced with a non—childish choice - to save the family or the dog they find at the battlefield.
