May Day, 1996. In an open field there is a mortar battery that is shelling a village occupied by militants. The platoon commander is preparing for the assault. The fighters are terribly exhausted, but find the strength to remain vigilant and keep an eye on the enemy. After the operation in Pervomaisky, they will be transferred to Chechnya, into the very thick of the massacre, to face new adversities and hardships... All these events are described with such convincing authenticity, so poignantly that the reader involuntarily feels like a hero of a real trench war.