Boris Barnet

A group of Russian partisans hiding within a remote forest attempt to destroy a nearby German airfield, all the while assisting a downed French pilot who happens to fall madly in love with a local girl.

The main character, Anna Denisova, is a simple Russian woman, on whose shoulders all the hardships of wartime fell. Like all her compatriots, Annushka did everything in her power to bring Victory Day closer. In this war, she lost her husband, Pyotr, but managed to save the lives of her three children — Sasha, Nina and Granata. The trials of Annushka didn't end with the end of the war. In the first years of peace, all survivors had to survive the famine and spend their last strength on rebuilding the country.

A story about capitalistic corruption in a small village and the personal struggles of Anka (Vera Marinich) as she is pregnant and abandoned by her lover.

About Trofimov, a well-known rider who goes on taking part in races in spite of the advanced age, until he realizes his time has gone and passes his experience on to his granddaughter’s fiance

The story of a young woman who, after her years at university in the city, returns to her hometown an engineer and begins work on a huge new power plant. She continues to supervise work on the plant throughout the war.

History of theft and double crossing when two thieves fall out over the theft of the money of the proceeds of the sale of a house by a banker to a religious community.

In 1918 a young and simple Mongol herdsman and trapper is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European capitalist fur trader. Ostracized from the trading post, he escapes to the hills after brawling with the trader who cheated him. In 1920 he becomes a Soviet partisan, and helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying British army. However he is captured by the British when they try to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with a reincarnated Grand Lama. After the trapper is shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a puppet regime. The trapper is thus thrust into prominence as he is placed in charge of the puppet government. By the end, however, the "puppet" turns against his masters in an outburst of fury.

In a remote Russian village during World War I, colourful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: family loyalty vs. personal desire, nationalism vs. transcendent humanism.