About the title
The events of the film take place in the Caucasus in the 1990s, during the harsh First Chechen War. Two ordinary Russian soldiers — warrant officer Alexander Kostylin and private Ivan Zhilin — are captured and held prisoner by Chechen fighters. Thus they find themselves imprisoned, with no idea what fate awaits them. At the same time, the head of a mountain village, Abdul-Murat, has his own personal reasons concerning the captured prisoners. War in the Caucasus. Two wounded Russian soldiers are taken in by a resident of a remote mountain village, Abdul-Murat. Abdul-Murat's son is held captive by the Russians, and the old man wants to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the camp commandant.