In 1937, amid
Joseph Stalin's
Great Purge, Kornyev, a young Soviet prosecutor who recently graduated from law school, comes across a letter written by a prisoner in
Bryansk. Believing the man to be the victim of
NKVD corruption, he obtains a visit through his oversight role in the local prosecutor's office. Despite the prison director's excuses, Kornyev insists on meeting Stepniak, an imprisoned
Old Bolshevik and local party stalwart. He earns the old man's trust by recounting how he had attended one of Stepniak's speeches about truth and
Bolshevism at his law school. Stepniak shows Kornyev torture wounds received after refusing to
falsely confess and begs him to tell Stalin or members of the
Politburo about the
wrongful convictions and illegal actions taken against loyal citizens who learn of or resist the NKVD's corruption. As Kornyev leaves, the prison director observing him makes a phone call while insulting his intelligence. Kornyev travels to Moscow by train and tries to sleep. However, he is constantly woken up by a
peglegged World War I veteran of the
Battle of Kowel telling a story about how he had visited
Vladimir Lenin in
Smolny and had eventually gotten alms and was now seeking the same from Stalin. At the
Procurator General's office, Kornyev struggles to navigate the Soviet bureaucracy but is given a chance at an appointment after an earnest plea to Procurator General
Andrey Vyshinsky's secretary. After enduring a long wait, Kornyev meets Vyshinsky, tells him about the conditions in Bryansk, and shows him Stepniak's bloody letter. Kornyev also explains that he came directly to Vyshinsky because he fears the local prosecutor's office is cowed by the local NKVD. Vyshinsky tells him that without strong documentary evidence, his office cannot open an inquiry into the NKVD and sends him back to Bryansk with documents authorizing him to conduct further investigations. On the train back, Kornyev is seated with Vasily and Petya, who introduce themselves as engineers before giving toasts to
Soviet law and playing
the counterplan song on guitar for him. In Bryansk, the three share a ride out of the train station and Petya aggressively questions Kornyev about his virginity before they drive past Kornyev's destination. Vasily tells Kornyev that he is under arrest and the car enters the prison facility. ==Cast==