During World War II the Red Army sends a special unit named "Zvezda" ("The Star") on a mission to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Germans in the Soviet Union.

The film is based on the eponymous book by Emmanuil Kazakevich. In the summer of 1944 the German armies prepare a massive tank division named "Viking" for an offensive against occupied Soviet land. The Red Army's special group of seven snipers named "Zvezda" is sent for a reconnaissance operation behind enemy lines. Two previous Soviet groups never returned. The seven Soviet soldiers know that they are going to an almost certain death for the sake of victory.—Steve Shelokhonov