Sergey Lesnoy

On Tanker's Day, Ivan Panasyuk, a former tanker and trackman, unexpectedly left for the city to visit his front-line comrade, Kolya Kravchenko, on his wife's day. For the first time since the war, Ivan hadn't received a congratulatory message from his friend on their shared holiday, and he became worried. He couldn't find Kolya—his old house had been demolished. Ivan spent the entire day in the city, witnessed the celebratory fireworks, and accidentally met an elderly colonel, with whom, it turned out, he had fought together in the battles for the liberation of a small Hungarian town.…

The hero of this lyrical and optimistic story, former front-line soldier Shodi Makhmadaliev, has worked as a shepherd for many years. He loves his work. Yet life, surprisingly, is not easy even here in the степь. And when things grow especially heavy on the old soldier’s heart, he turns to the memories of his wartime years and holds on to hope—for something better, something worthy of the memory of his friends who never returned from the front…