In 1988, at a recruitment base in Krasnoyarsk, young Soviet Army conscripts say farewell to their families and prepare to depart for military duty, stepping into a future defined by duty and danger. Among the new arrivals are Lyutyy, Artur Smolyaninov, Chugun, Ivan Kokorin, Ryaba, and Stas, who are all assigned to the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment as they await deployment to Afghanistan.
Their bootcamp in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan, introduces them to a Chechen conscript, Pinochet, and to Senior Warrant Officer Dygalo, a scarred Afghanistan veteran who trains them with relentless discipline and a hard-edged worldview. Under his harsh regimen, the recruits begin to shed old rivalries and forge new bonds, learning to rely on one another in the face of pressure and fear. The squad’s tight-knit dynamic is punctuated by small moments of camaraderie, like the shared celebration when they meet a local woman nicknamed Snow White, a delicate reminder of ordinary life beyond the border.
Dygalo’s heartbreak becomes evident when his request to deploy alongside the recruits is denied, underscoring the cold realities of military service and the separations that come with it. The men eventually board a transport plane bound for Bagram airbase, each carrying their own hopes and nerves about what lies ahead.
At Bagram, a veteran returning home passes along a talisman to Lyutyy, a lucky medallion that the man claims has kept him safe through multiple tours. But fate intervenes when the veteran’s transport plane is struck by a missile on takeoff, crashing and killing everyone on board. The catastrophe scatters the recruits into different paths: most join the 9th company, while Pinochet and Ryaba find themselves in the 4th company, separating from their friends and altering the dynamics of their bonds.
Across this shifting landscape, these young soldiers meet a new set of veterans—Warrant Officer Khokhol, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Sergeant Afanasiy, Dmitriy Mukhamadeev as Afanasiev, and medic Kurbashi, Amadu Mamadakov—who have seen the war up close and speak with a blunt honesty that unsettles and clarifies for the recruits. The veterans teach what the textbooks never fully convey: that war is a series of hard choices, moments of fear, and the necessity of looking out for one another.
Led by Captain Kagraman Bystrov, the company head toward an isolated Soviet outpost to deliver supplies, only to be met by Mujahideen fighters led by Akhmed in a brief, brutal skirmish. After the clash, Vorobey, one of the friends, discovers Akhmed by chance and ends him, a decision that weighs on him as the conflict deepens. The outpost is part of Operation Magistral, and the unit establishes an exposed position on Hill 3234 to safeguard passing convoys. Ryaba, having endured a prior ambush, is brought back into the fold as the sole survivor of that earlier attack, while Stas falls asleep on guard duty and is punished by the veterans.
In the days that follow, Khokhol tries to keep the spirits intact as Gioconda—an Afghan villager who trades food for matches—ventures into a village to seek supplies, a dangerous errand that foreshadows the mounting peril around Hill 3234. An approaching convoy is ambushed, leaving heavy casualties and forcing the defenders to cope with the chaos. Ryaba suffers a mental collapse under the stress and is shot, and Captain Bystrov is killed in the crossfire. Khokhol leads a pursuit into a nearby village, but tragedy strikes again when Stas is killed by a village boy, his death a stark reminder of the everyday violence that the front lines carry with them. In response, a Soviet rocket barrage wipes out the village in retaliation, a stark example of the brutal reach of war.
Months pass with the 9th company remaining on Hill 3234, their lives slowed to a tense routine as the war’s narrative shifts around them. Pinochet is reassigned to the fortified hill, and the soldiers mourn their fallen comrades while marking New Year’s Eve with muted reflection. The storm of conflict returns when Gioconda is killed during another wave of Mujahideen assault. In the ensuing battle, losses mount for both sides, including Khokhol, Kurbashi, Chugun, Vorobey, and Pinochet. Surrounded and running low on ammunition, Lyutyy and Afanasiy rally the remaining men in a desperate, last-ditch defense. Just then, Mi-24 helicopter gunships arrive and decimate the Afghan fighters, swinging the balance back in favor of the exhausted Soviets. Among the survivors, Lyutyy emerges as the sole remaining fighter on the ground, only to learn from an arriving colonel that the Soviet withdrawal had already begun, rendering the night’s “victory” hollow and deeply personal. Overcome with grief, Lyutyy tears the lucky medallion from his neck and weeps for what was endured.
The narrative closes on February 9, 1989, with Lyutyy aboard a BTR-70 convoy leaving Afghanistan. Through his narration, he recounts the looming dissolution of the Soviet Union, notes Dygalo’s eventual death from a stroke, and contemplates the futility and memory of the war, yet he insists that the 9th company earned its own hard-won victory in the end.
