Leningrad is on its knees in its fifth month under siege when seventeen-year-old Lev is thrown into jail for looting a dead German soldier. As he waits through the interminable night before his certain execution, he is joined by Kolya, an aristocratic Russian deserter. The next morning, instead of the firing squad, they face an NKVD colonel. His daughter is getting married, and his wife insists on a wedding cake. Lev and Kolya must find a dozen eggs for it, or die...