The first part of the autobiographical trilogy covers the time from the 30s to the beginning of 1955. “In the life of my generation, the most important event that divided my whole life into two periods “before” and “after” was the WAR. And the war left its indelible imprint on the whole life “after”, for everyone and everything,” writes the author. During this time, a boy from the outback went through the path of early adulthood, like the entire generation of “children of the War.” Flight to the east before the war is on its heels. Difficult years of survival, hunger and cold. Return, school, work at a sugar factory and on a collective farm. Bright years of understanding the world, people, technology - studying at the famous KPI. Worked as a welding engineer before being drafted into the Navy. The author writes: “It’s over. Leningrad. The plant where interesting work began so well. Now it’s “my” adjustment group... The weightless sheets of orders have formed a rigid funnel, into which an unknown force is inevitably and irrevocably, regardless of my will and desires, dragging my life..."