About the famous fortification scientist, Lieutenant General of Engineering Troops Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. Before the war, he led the work on strengthening the Brest Fortress and the approaches to Leningrad. In 1940 he was 60 years old. The beginning of the war found him in Belorussia. After one of the battles, seriously wounded, he was taken prisoner to the Mauthausen camp, where he fought against fascism for 1320 days.

Anna Georgievna Smirnova is a serious, businesslike and judicious person. It was these strengths of her character that helped the woman achieve high career results. Anna is a deputy and director of a textile factory in the Moscow region, who has long put an end to her personal life. She lives with her elderly mother. Her husband died, and her only daughter, Irina, is married. But suddenly, in a sanatorium in the southern resort of Anna, she meets a man named Volodya. He is a Muscovite, a former pilot, and now a driver. Volodya is younger than Anna, behind him two unsuccessful marriages. Between already middle-aged people a feeling of mutual sympathy erupts.