August 1941. The defeats of the first two months of the war brought the USSR to the brink of disaster. The Red Army, defeated in border battles, rolls back to the east. Trying to restore the situation, the Soviet command launched counterattacks on the German troops that had broken through. These desperate, poorly prepared attacks rarely achieved their goal - the enemy was too experienced and strong. But the divisions that burned in the summer of '41 in the fire of suicidal counter-offensives won the most important thing for the country, the most precious thing in the war - time. The main characters of this novel - tankman Petrov and infantryman Volkov - are among those who drank this bitter cup before bottom. Those who did not break down in the purgatory of hopeless battles did not falter in the hell of encirclement. Who stood to the death, dying, but not giving up, saving the Motherland at the cost of their own lives.