It all starts in 1985. In a small town there are three boys who dream of a career as a naval officer - Sashka Robertson, Leshka Balunov and Vovka Titov. The submarine K-963, on which their fathers serve, is leaving on a secret mission - to the NATO exercise area to find and record an acoustic portrait of the newest, virtually silent American submarine. And the boys, playing submariners in an abandoned factory, fall into a death trap. Years later, when friends Sashka, Leshka and Vovka were finishing school, military service no longer seemed so prestigious to many, values changed, and submarines rusted. Vovka leaves for Moscow, becomes a businessman. Lyoshka goes to the Marine Corps. And only Sashka remains true to his youthful dream and connects his life with the sea - he becomes a submariner.