A novel about one of the significant pages in the military history of the border troops - their participation in the Great Patriotic War. At the center of the story is the unusual fate of the commandant of the border section on the western border, Andrei Ilyin, who entered into battle with the Nazis at dawn on June 22, 1941. Both he and his comrades had a hard time. Dire trials, exploits and adventures awaited them on the roads of war. The tragic June separated Ilyin from his family for a long time. His wife, having lost her children, becomes a sniper. They did everything they could to win.