Sergei Sevostyanov

A funny story about a fourth-grader Malyavkin and his various adventures.

The film is about a family with three happy people - a father, a mother and a 10-year-old son. But it happens that a father is turned into a criminal. He could not prove that he was right. And no one was interested in this. Out of grief, he began to drink. And he drank to the point that he lost his human face. Happiness left the family, the boy’s childhood ended.

1941. The children of repressed parents, residents of a special orphanage, are escaping from the Germans on a boat. With them are a young teacher, Katya, an encircled resident, Kostya, and Private Polushkin. Everyone—adults and children alike—faces an unbearably difficult journey.