Finally, Pyotr Nagulin worked out his relationship with the NKVD and, as he thinks, convinced the Soviet leadership of his loyalty. However, his new position brought him new problems. Now he is in Moscow, still far from the front, but a senior lieutenant of state security cannot calmly watch hundreds of thousands of encircled Red Army soldiers die in the Kiev pocket—and he goes to see his superiors with a proposal that once again puts his future in jeopardy.