Андрей Иванов

This is a story about the battle for a hospital building in Grozny (Chechnya) in January 1995 between Russian Army forces and Chechen rebels supported by Arabian mujahideen and international mercenaries. Although the story is fictional, most of the characters are based on real-life prototypes and events are the compilation of true events during the Grozny Siege in the First Chechen War.

Moscow Year New Year's Eve 1987. In the 25th hospital on duty are the obstetrician and the nurse. They make the rounds, after which sit down to celebrate the New Year. Suddenly, the hospital ambulance arrives with a pregnant woman - daughter of the general, who had an accident and she started the premature birth. Despite the exhortations of doctors that gestational age is a tragic turn for the child, a fierce general, threatening with a pistol, forcing him to take delivery. A child is born dead, and intimidated doctor decides to replace it for a living. On the same day another woman gave birth to twin-girls, one of which is changed. Ironically, the two girls called Masha.

Andrey is the coach of a children's hockey team in a small provincial town. The hero's measured life is disrupted by the news that the only ice palace in the city, where he trains children, is going to be demolished. The only way to save him is to win an amateur hockey tournament. Andrey has only a few months to assemble a team and prepare it for the games. Fathers of little hockey players decide to take to the ice themselves and fight for the future of their children.

Alla devoted most of her life to her ex-husbands, son and daughter. She works as a tutor while continuing to support her adult children and husbands. Relatives come to her for lunch every day, not at all interested in Alla herself. In one of these family dinners, choking on potatoes, Alla almost dies, but "relatives" do not even notice this.