In the autumn of 1997, Danila Bagrov (Sergei Bodrov Jr.) returns to his small hometown of Priozersk following his demobilization from the Russian Army after the First Chechen War. On his way home, he ends up in a fight with security guards, after he accidentally walks onto the set of a music video for the band Nautilus Pompilius (band). He is arrested and brought to the local militsiya precinct. The person in charge turns out to have been a classmate of Danila's deceased father, who was a habitual offender and was killed in prison. He offers Danila a job, but Danila refuses and is released on the condition that he will find another job within a week. After Danila arrives home his mother, very concerned for Danila, insists that he go to St. Petersburg to meet up with his successful older brother Viktor and ask for his help.