Vasiliy Shukshin

Two men besiege a lunch bar looking for a third man they must kill.

July 1942. Soviet forces are retreating in the face of a massive German onslaught towards Stalingrad. An infantry platoon is tasked with holding a vital hill in order to give their comrades time to cross the Don River and regroup.

A Siberian farm-worker and his wife travel south for their first holiday, meeting characters such as a smooth-talking con man and a professor of folklore, who invites them to stop off in Moscow.