Sonja (17) lives with her father Nikolaj (52) in a closed military town lost in the woods 37 kilometres away from the nearest large city. Her mother divorced Nikolaj and left for the city with Sonja's brother shortly after he was born. Nikolaj, a retired army officer, takes advantage of personal contacts to gain benefit for his small grocery shop and expects Sonja to take it over one day. Sonja works part-time as an orderly in the local military hospital and spends her free time with her boyfriend and their friends. One summer evening, Sonja encounters Deserter (20), a young conscript soldier from the local military base, who wants to go on the run and asks her to bring him civilian clothing. Sonja, shocked and frightened, doesn't dare to help or tell anyone about him. When the next day she gets back to the place he was hiding, she discovers that he is gone and finds the phone of her friend Vadim on the ground nearby. Video recordings from the memory card reveal that Deserter was sadistically bullied by him and other senior soldiers. Meanwhile, Nikolaj’s old friend Oleg, a serving military, asks him to help them handle the incident with Deserter. Nikolaj agrees out of loyalty to his former unit and in order not to fall out of favour with the local authorities. During her night shift Sonja learns that Deserter was hospitalised. While she suspects that he was tracked down and beaten up by senior soldiers, Nikolaj's sister, a chief physician, suggests that he attempted to commit suicide. Sonja feels helpless in the face of these unwritten rules that everyone around seems to accept, including her boyfriend. Back at the military base, Deserter gets hold of a weapon and kills two other soldiers before being shot dead. Vadim kidnaps Sonja, but she manages to escape to the city and stays overnight at her mother's place. Nikolaj learns what has happened and confronts Oleg and Vadim. However, he sees no reason in escalating things further and asks Sonja to give them the memory card back. Driven to despair, Sonja decides to upload the recordings online, causing a public outcry over the Deserter's case.

Writer / Kristina Májová , Sasha Stelchenko

Completion date / November 2027

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