Writing
Milan leaves his home and joins the "youth brigade", a group of young people who worked on a railway track. Tragedy strikes when Milan is injured operating one of the mechanical drills that make the building of tunnels possible. But his dedication is greater than his pain, and so he rushes back to the building site instead of staying in the hospital so that he can help the brigade meet the deadline for the completion of the tunnel.
1948
The story takes place during WW II in Vojvodina. Two boys, Milan and Rasa, are sent from a partisan squad to a village for the winter. Soon Rasa becomes very ill and Milan goes to a nearby village populated by Germans. Here he finds a job as servant in Jakob Jerih's house. At night, Milan secretly nurses his friend Rasa in a hut in a swamp near the village. Soon, he finds another hiding place in master Jerih's stable. Jerih likes the diligent Milan and he even considers adopting the boy, but Jerih's cousin and assistant is against this idea. Namely because he counts on inheriting master Jerih's estate.
1975
