It’s 1961, and Danya (Merab Ninidze), a medical officer, is serving in Kazakhstan, working with the first ever group of cosmonauts. He is torn between his friendship with the idealistic space cadets, and the knowledge that these men are expected to sacrifice their own lives for the nation. Returning to Moscow, he explores the questions of morality and the value of human lives versus the societal good. Eventually, Danya goes back to the space program and his own impending doom.