After being wounded at the front, Lieutenant Andrei Samsonov becomes paraplegic. With virtually no hope for recovery, he falls into severe depression. Hoping to alleviate Andrei's distress, Dr. Fyodorov transfers him to a ward occupied by a large group of former soldiers with similar injuries. Meanwhile, Elena, Andrei's ex-fiancée, whom he rejected after his injury, arrives at the hospital. She proves persistent enough to overcome her fiancé's pessimism, and soon, together with the doctor, she manages to awaken in the young man a desire to live and start a family.
