The year is 1950. The border guards' troops are reinforced with new recruits. One of them, an inexperienced boy, accompanies a tired sergeant-major on watch. In the deep snow, they see the tracks of ski shoes leading from the border. At first, the two men follow the tracks on their horses, but then they have to continue on foot. A snowstorm breaks out. The older border guard is stocky and strong, and helps the young colleague. Then the blinding snow separates them. The sergeant-major hasn't had any sleep for several days and he begins to lose consciousness. He is awakened by shots. He finds his young colleague shot and wounded and drags him to a lonely house where a young woman lives. He finds out from her about a strange man who asked her for directions. The young border guard dies. The sergeant-major, at the end of his strength, reaches the railway station and jumps onto a train. Here he finds a solitary passenger. When he checks his papers everything seems all right. But his experience makes the guard cautious. Finally the two men have a fight. The saboteur pulls out his gun but it is he who loses in the end.
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