During the final days of World War II the schoolboy Jóska is trying to make his way home. Detained then released by Soviet troops on several occasions, he appears to have no place in this alien world of devastation and ruins – until he is appointed adjunct to the young soldier Kolya. Youthful and naïve, the pair of them become friends in spite of the linguistic and cultural barriers separating them. This relationship sometimes allows them to forget the bleakness surrounding them, the sadness of the circumstances, and exposes the constructed nature of uniformed national identity as an empty pretext for inhumane actions and the abuse of power.
During the final days of World War II the schoolboy Jóska is trying to make his way home. Detained then released by Soviet troops on several occasions, he appears to have no place in this alien world of devastation and ruins – until he is appointed adjunct to the young soldier Kolya. Youthful and naïve, the pair of them become friends in spite of the linguistic and cultural barriers separating them. This relationship sometimes allows them to forget the bleakness surrounding them, the sadness of the circumstances, and exposes the constructed nature of uniformed national identity as an empty pretext for inhumane actions and the abuse of power.