18-year-old Tolya Kovrigin grew up in an orphanage where everyone called him Chukhna. He shares a room with his friends Kostya and Volodya on Vasilyevskiy Island in Saint Petersburg, the most beautiful city there is. Kostya loves girls. He's constantly flirting and calling them cutesy names. Volodya is a poet who dreams of joining the military academy. They have fun, drink wine, debate, dance the foxtrot and look forward to a happy future-but they've closed their eyes to the signs of impending disaster. It's the spring of 1940, and the city is lit by the white nights. But the world is on the brink of total war. Blissfully unaware of these events, Chukhna meets Lyolya, the love of his life. The front lines, the siege and the deaths that will put an end to their youthful innocence are all in the future, for now. For now, they're young and careless. They still have time to enjoy the happiest days of their lives.