In Leningrad in 1941, columns of
infantry men and truckloads of soldiers stream into the streets,
readying to defend the city against the Nazis. When Red Cross
headquarters calls all volunteer nurses to duty, a group of twenty
girls reports to receive uniforms and equipment. Among the
group is Natasha, their leader; Tamara, a former dancer; and Chijik,
their youngest member, a mere child.
At the railroad station, Natasha bids
goodbye to Sergei Korovin, her fiancé and a soldier in the Russian
army. The next morning, the Red Cross trucks deliver the
nurses to the battlefront, where the field doctor orders them to
convert an old wooden mansion into a hospital. That evening, a
transport of wounded soldiers arrives, bringing the nurses their
first taste of the bloody realities of war.
Later, when a Russian plane is downed by
Messerschmidts near the hospital, John Hill, an American flyer who
had been testing the aircraft, is brought to the facility.
Although an operation saves John's life, his legs remain numb from
the shock. Despondent, John blames himself for the death of
the plane's pilot.
Natasha cares for John day and night,
and he slowly recovers the will to live and discovers that he has
fallen in love with her. When the enemy nears the hospital
area, an order to evacuate is given and the nurses carry the wounded
to waiting ambulances. After enemy artillery destroys a
section of the hospital and one of the ambulances, some of the
patients are forced to wait behind until an new ambulance can be
dispatched. Natasha volunteers to stay behind with John and
several of the other wounded men, and they all take cover in a
dugout. That night, John confides his dream of seeing his
country again once the war ends.
The next day, Natasha and the others are
rescued and driven to another hospital far removed from the front.
There John recovers and begins to walk again, and although Natasha
has fallen in love with him, she goes without hesitation when a call
comes from the front for five more nurses. Deciding to tell
John about her fiancé before she leaves, Natasha approaches him but
is stopped by a wounded soldier asking for water. When the
soldier tells her that Sergei was killed in battle, Natasha,
speechless, wanders away without speaking to John.
Natasha performs bravely at the front,
and when a blizzard strikes, she forms a ski patrol to reach the
injured. After Natasha is wounded in battle, she is taken to a
hospital in Leningrad. Soon after, John receives orders to
return to the United States. Before leaving, he seeks out
Natasha at the hospital and, without declaring his love, bids her
farewell and assures her that they will meet again once victory over
Germany is declared.
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