The poor Melnik family lives in Zarasai region. Elder Mary parents struggle to send Marry to school but they did this anyway. The horizons of the girl, who until then had learned only from the old grandfather Peter, are spreading there, she, as if seeing herself in her place, tells the class about the legendary hero of Lithuanian history Grazina. Deprivation prevents Maryte from graduating, so she starts working in a candy factory where she hears political inferences. 1940, Vilnius is returned to Lithuania. Maryte, her best friend Elena and a group of young people in national costumes get ready to walk to the capital. In the periphery, the Bolsheviks remember the land of the rich, distribute it to the poor, and Mary dreams of continuing her studies and becoming a doctor. The dream is interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Maryte Melnikaite joins the partisan platoon led by Russian paratroopers, participates in various combat campaigns.