The script is based on the story “Atone with blood” by the writer-veteran Vyacheslav Kondratiev. The Red Army, after several months of fierce fighting, finally knocks out the enemy from the village of Ovsyannikovo, which costs huge losses – only a third of the personnel remains from the company. The fighters, exhausted to the limit, are waiting for reinforcements, but an order comes from the headquarters – to hold the village at any cost, and this is equivalent to a death sentence. The company commander is faced with a difficult choice – either to lose the remnants of the company, fulfilling a senseless command order, or to withdraw his men from under mortar fire, but at the same time leave the occupied positions and go to court-martial for violating the order.

In extremely realistic details, only one brutal battle is shown, in which, as in a drop of water, the whole truth about the war is reflected.

According to official data, more than a million Soviet soldiers and officers died in the battles near Rzhev. According to unofficial – more than two. 

Official data:
Irretrievable losses – 392,554 people
Sanitary – 768,233 people
In total, including prisoners, losses amounted to 605,984 people. And together with sanitary: 1,374,217 people.

The Battle of Rzhev, which ended on March 31, 1943, went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War as one of the longest and bloodiest. The battles lasted more than a year with breaks of several months. All this time, the Soviet army was experiencing an acute shortage of food, weapons and people. Four offensive operations of the Soviet troops went one after the other, the fighting was fierce, the losses on both sides were catastrophic. After a bloody 15-month battle, Rzhev was never taken – the Germans were forced to retreat.