Three friends — Jānis, Zigis, and Ričards — are mobilized into the
Latvian Legion during
World War II, where they fight against the
Red Army in the
Volkhov Marshes. Zigis is killed while attempting to
desert to the Soviets. After the war, Jānis is
amnestied and remains in
Soviet Latvia, accepting the new order, while Ričards is missing. Twenty years later, the two surviving friends meet again. Ričards, who has returned from abroad on a secret mission, has become an agent of Western intelligence services hostile to the Soviet regime. The film portrays the events surrounding the participation of the
Latvian Legion in battles against the Soviets on the
Leningrad Front, particularly during the
Battle of Leningrad, with the focus on a critical moment where Ričards takes part in executing a captured Latvian
Red Army soldier to save his friend Zigis. Afterward, Ričards is sent to Germany, recruited by Western powers, and tasked with a mission in Latvia to destroy the
Latvian Warriors' Monument at the
Brothers' Cemetery, Riga. In the finale, Ričards kills his friend Jānis and realizes that he has lost everything—his wife, his friend, and his homeland. His secret mission is exposed, and he is arrested. While produced during the Soviet period and full of
Soviet propaganda clichés, the film rather objectively describes the events surrounding the participation of the
Latvian Legion in battles against Soviets on the
Leningrad Front during World War II. ==Cast==