The plot is based on one of the crucial stages of the Great Patriotic War - the crossing of the Dnieper by Soviet troops in 1943. Two battalions are thrown into fatal breakthrough in German-occupied side of the river in order to distract enemy forces and thereby facilitate the division's spurt to a strategically important city of the Dnieper. The main connections must support them with artillery fire and air. However, the command suddenly changes the plan of attack, leaving the battalion without fire support, thus condemning them to death. Moreover, the soldiers are ordered to hold to the last.