September 1941. On the Eastern Front of World War II, Kostya and his fellow Russian cadets are tasked with evacuating thousands of civilians out of war-torn Leningrad, to safety aboard Barge 752. While Kostya’s commander initially worries that the barge may be too outdated to safely sail across Lake Ladoga, the evacuation is completed, even allowing Kostya time to smuggle his fiancé, Nastya, aboard the barge to join him on the journey. But catastrophe quickly finds them.

An unrelenting storm strikes that evening, and Barge 752 begins to breakdown and leak, threatening to sink. Kostya, Nastya, and the rest of the ship occupants are hopeful for a rescue the next morning, but instead find themselves in even greater danger when the first responders are not rescue planes…but enemy aircraft, ready for attack.