Velikaya Otechestvennaya voyna. Blokada Leningrada. Sem'yu Medvedevykh zhdut tyazheleyshiye zhiznennyye ispytaniya, chereda obreteniy i utrat, im predstoit poznat' bespredel'nuyu silu dukha, khlebnut' nemalo gorya. Eta kniga o sile i slabosti chelovecheskoy, o samopozhertvovanii i zhenskoy lyubvi, kotoraya vstayet kak proklyatiye ili blagosloveniye, razryvayet svyazi s blizkimi lyud'mi i unichtozhayet nadezhdu na budushcheye, no pomogayet vystoyat' v voyne protiv zhestokogo vraga, ibo dayet lyubyashchey zhenshchine kolossal'nuyu silu. Zhizn' geroyev romana, kak zhizn' millionov lyudey, ulozhilas' v istoricheskiye ramki bytiya sovetskogo gosudarstva.