This is not at all how young Lieutenant Skvorin imagined serving the Motherland... A graduate of the officer school, he arrives on assignment to the Trans-Baikal Military District and ends up in Hell. Pitch Hell, promising horror to everyone who crosses the border of the checkpoint. How far from the truth were his naive ideas about the army, inspired by books, newspapers and television! Even the alarming stories and rumors that circulated within the walls of the school correspond to the nightmarish reality no more than children’s drawings “about the war” resemble the war itself... In fact, this is no longer an army - it is an Armada, furious and merciless in its death throes... Armada, capable of breaking anyone who stood in her way. It seems that Skvorin does not have the slightest chance of resisting the soulless monster. What will be his choice: surrender with his tail between his legs, or go against everyone? Dissolve into a faceless mass or preserve human dignity?