The story of the Writers' Battalion, one of the subdivisions of the 8th division of the Moscow regiment of the popular uprising, gave rise to the discussion of the relationship between the artist and the authorities. The hero of the film is a composite image of the Poet, whose lines are quotes from the works and notes of Soviet writers. The dialogue between the Poet and the Author reveals the Poet's relationship to Soviet reality: it goes from the initial enthusiasm for changes in his country to the rejection of the "party order" style in the leadership of the artistic intelligentsia. The hope that after the war is over, after a Victory obtained in pain, life in the country will change, is not destined to come true. Freedom of thought is a threat to the authorities. The beginning of the sixties, the end of the "thaw". A call to order, and everything is as before.
