A former white officer, and now an employee of the NKVD, martial arts master Viktor Spiridonov meets the disgraced Soviet intelligence agent Vasily Oshchepkov, who studied judo in Japan for a long time. They quickly find a common language, because both are obsessed with the idea of creating a national art of self-defense. But the joint work soon turns into an irreconcilable confrontation. Intrigues, betrayal, emotions will predetermine the tragic fate of the two great creators of sambo.