Introduction to Life

Volodya and Valya cross paths for the first time at a crowded refugee station, a fleeting moment that seeds their wartime bond. The meeting happens in the summer of 1941 and hints at the lives they will share through hardship.

An air raid on the evacuation train near Mga station results in Valya's mother and her younger sister Lucy dying. The tragedy casts Valya into sudden hardship and forces the pair to navigate the war’s brutal realities on their own.

Valya and her sister endure a period of wandering through orphanages as families are torn apart by the conflict. Eventually they are found by their aunt and taken in, finding a fragile shelter from the chaos outside.

Volodya grows up amid a fractured family: his mother is divorced from his father, who has moved on with another wife and a son named Oleg. This domestic instability adds another layer of challenge to his adolescence.

During the evacuation, Volodya's mother attempts to rebuild her personal life and becomes involved with an army captain. Their connection offers a glimmer of hope amid the war, even as it introduces new tensions.

The teen takes a job at a defensive aircraft factory and moves to a nearby hostel. There he befriends Romka, a fellow young worker, and together they face long shifts and the pressures of wartime life.

The captain ends the relationship after learning of the pregnancy, and a baby girl is born to Volodya's mother. The ensuing social stigma makes it difficult for her to secure decent housing, compounding the family’s struggles.

To obtain a summons to a city whose blockade has just been lifted, Volodya travels to Leningrad to seek help from his father. The journey marks a decisive move toward stabilizing his future amid the war.

Jakubowski Sr. initially refuses to issue the summons, influenced by concerns about the family’s fractured situation. Volodya remains persistent and ultimately secures his father’s cooperation to move forward.

Despite the father's objections to Volodya maintaining ties with Oleg, the two teenagers are introduced and form a friendship. Their bond provides a rare sense of camaraderie amid the ongoing upheaval of war.

Across the upheavals of evacuation, bombardments, and family upheavals, Volodya and Valya navigate adolescence while the war shapes their paths toward adulthood. The timeline weaves their personal growth into the broader wartime backdrop.

The story tracks how Volodya and Valya endure, adapt, and seek a future despite loss, stigma, and the constant presence of conflict. Their experiences illuminate a generation’s resilience during the Great Patriotic War.