October 1941. On the territory of Belarus, Nazi punitive units wreak havoc. The invaders burn cities and villages, execute peaceful residents, and search for partisans. German propaganda blames the communists for forcing people into the forests to a certain death. Stalin is furious: occupiers and slanderers must face harsh punishment! To destroy representatives of the “new power,” a group of Major Maksim Shelestov is sent to the Minsk region. He already has a daring plan for an operation of retribution. But the enemy is strong and merciless—and in their methods of war there is neither honor nor conscience—nothing human at all…