Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.
A military unit freed a soldier from captivity. It turned out that his fiancee serves as a nurse in this unit. But the soldier, whose face was disfigured by the Nazis, didn't dare to meet her.
The civil war separated families on opposite sides of the barricades. How to understand this situation for a young girl who is being raised by a rich aunt, while her father leads a partisan detachment.
