Eric Pyryev

A group of Soviet counterintelligence officers manage to neutralize spies sent to the territory of the country to obtain secret information about the construction of a large military-industrial complex in Priozersk.

This is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.

Young Leningraders, yesterday’s schoolchildren, are entering adulthood. Sonya is in love with Styopa, but he loves Tanya, and Tanya prefers Fedya. The rejected Styopa leaves for a distant Siberian city and starts working at the factory, studying at the evening institute. Sonya leaves after him and gets a job at the same factory. Tanya and Fedya, having married, go to college, and the young husband has to earn some money as a driver to support his family. The selfish nature of Tanya refuses to put up with the modest position in which the newlyweds are forced to be, and she starts an affair with an elderly composer...