The film tells the story of the Soviet soldier Illarion the Storm. Upon returning from the front, he learns that his wife was cheating on him with an Italian officer. In a fit of anger, he kills the missus. He still has a daughter, Yulya, who hated her father for the crime. Many years later, Illarion tells his story to the writer Arkadiy Iskra, who did not even suspect that life is so harsh.