While carrying out a combat mission, Dedov's detachment stops an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to enter the territory of the republic and commit a terrorist attack. Dedov's colleague recognizes one of the dead enemy soldiers as his former neighbor: he has a tattoo with fascist symbols on his wrist. Looking at him, Dedov remembers that in his youth he almost went to prison because of a fight into which his friend from the past, Vasily Tkachenko, dragged him. At one time he received a sentence for murder, and then the friends' paths diverged.