: The Great Patriotic War. Russian and German are imprisoned in the basement. United by a common misfortune, the heroes become friends, but, freed, they again turn into enemies.

The end of World War II. In a city captured by Soviet troops, an air raid suddenly began. Ivan Volok, a Russian soldier, ran after a sergeant, but fell behind. Suddenly, two Germans appeared in front of him. Ivan gave a random machine-gun burst and killed one of them, the second German disappeared somewhere.

Among the explosions and falling buildings, Ivan saw an open door and ran into it. Not noticing the steps, he stumbled and flew down into the basement.

The German, whom Ivan did not have time to kill, was hiding here in the dark. They began to fight, trying in every way to destroy each other. Suddenly there was a new explosion. Ivan was covered with rubble and shards of brick, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, Ivan found that the entrance to the basement was completely blocked, and the concrete ceiling in the corner cracked, and a thin ray of light penetrated into the crack, turning darkness into twilight. For a moment, it seemed to Ivan that his opponent was dead, but he was mistaken - the German, covered with fragments of stone, came to his senses.

Ivan’s first desire was to kill the fascist, but “it’s awkward to shoot the helpless and sick”.Surprised by himself, he helped the German get out from under the rubble and gave him his dressing bag so that he would bandage his wounded knee. The German was not young, there was a trace of a shard on his temple - Ivan wore the same scar on his left side.

He saw nearby not just some self-confident Hitlerite of the first days of the war, but an elderly, tired and, obviously, a lot of suffering man.

Only the German form did not allow Ivan to forget that he was facing an enemy. Together, they began to disassemble the blockage, unsuccessfully trying to loosen the concrete slab. It soon became clear that the German spoke a little Russian - he was taught by “Russian Frau”. Like Ivan, in civilian life, Fritz Hageman was a carpenter, he built houses.

Ivan no longer felt hostility towards Fritz. Now he was worried about something else - what would happen when they got out of the basement. Who will meet them upstairs - ours or Germans? If the Germans - wouldn’t it be better to shoot Fritz right now? But everything changed, and Ivan could no longer kill.

How to shoot him, if between them the main thing for this collapsed - mutual hatred, if suddenly in an enemy uniform the most ordinary person appeared before him ...

Suddenly, voices were heard above, but it was impossible to make out which language they spoke. Ivan and Fritz fell silent. No one dared to vote, for fear of running into the enemy. It became clear to both that they would have to get out of the basement on their own.

Ivan offered Fritz to voluntarily surrender to the Russians, but he refused. In Dresden, he left a wife and three children. If Fritz falls into Russian captivity, his family will be sent to camps.Ivan also remembered his wife and two daughters who remained on their collective farm. The German admitted that he did not like this war, but "Fuhrer-Shaiza!" But nevertheless, tension remained in the relations between Ivan and Fritz: each of them felt the danger emanating from the other and was afraid to let go of weapons.

Parsing the blockage, Ivan disturbed a stone slab, which fell on him and stunned him. Ivan spent some time unconscious and delirious. The German took care of him - bandaged his broken head and watered water seeping into the basement.

When he woke up, Ivan noticed that in the basement it had become lighter - a hole had formed in the place of the plate that had fallen on him. We must get out and surrender the Germans to our own. Between Ivan and Fritz, everything changed again.

There was only his tired, middle-aged face, illuminated by the dim light from the lighter - now a German soldier was sitting in front of him ...

Fritz got out first and pulled Ivan out of the hole. On the street, the Germans noticed and called out their own. However, Ivan did not want this man to return to the enemy regiment, and shot at a recent ally and almost friend. Fritz threw a grenade at Ivan, but at the last moment he managed to shoot again, and the German fell.

A fragment of a grenade wounded Ivan in the shoulder. They started shelling him, but the dust raised by the explosion prevented him, and Ivan managed to hide in the alley. He walked slowly towards his own people, and he wanted to "swear at the pain and dull injustice of what happened."