 The film is based on a true story of the 9th company during the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in the 1980 s. Young Soviet Army recruits are sent from a boot camp into the middle of the war in Afghanistan. The action is not like a boot camp at all. It is very bloody and dirty. The 9th company is defending the hill 3234. They are hopelessly calling for help. But help never comes. "This is war, you kill, or get killed", says the 9-th company leader Khohol (Bondarchuk). They believed that they served their country. But two years later that country ceased to exist.