The Law of Life

When German knights invade Russia, Prince Alexander Nevsky must rally his people to resist the formidable force. After the Teutonic soldiers take over an eastern Russian city, Alexander stages his stand at Novgorod, where a major battle is fought on the ice of frozen Lake Chudskoe. While Alexander leads his outnumbered troops, two of their number, Vasili and Gavrilo, begin a contest of bravery to win the hand of a local maiden.

Surrounded by a few party officials, Alexei Ivanov, a stakhanovist smelter, is decorated by Stalin. The "Little Father of the Peoples" takes this opportunity to invoke threats of war.... One day, war indeed breaks out. Bombs fall on the field where Alexei finds himself in the company of the schoolmistress Natacha, his fiancée. Alexei joins the Red Army and soon becomes a sergeant. Fighting rages and German troops advance. Natacha is arrested and deported. But the tide turns decisively with the German defeat at Stalingrad. Now the major offensive against Hitler can begin.

In the summer of 1932, Sergei Lukonin, a young man from Saratov, leaves his hometown for the distant city of Omsk to attend tank school. His fiancée, Varenka, who soon became an actress, remained in Saratov. In 1936, Sergei went to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He was wounded, taken prisoner, escaped, and returned to training battles, with June 1941 looming ahead.

It is the story of an American journalist who spends time in Russia and sees socialism in action. Upon his return to the U.S., a prestigious editor asks him to write a book about his experience. He receives a handsome advance for the project and he and his fiancée are able to buy a house, a car, and other symbols of the American dream. But the editor’s generosity comes with a caveat: the book must present a negative picture of Soviet society. Will he simply keep the money and do what is expected of him, or will he instead tell the truth?

A story of true love set during the WWII.