Valentinka, a little girl who lost her mother and father in the war, is evacuated from Stalingrad to Chelyabinsk along with two women. On the way, they are taken in by the locals in the village of Nechaevka: they are fed and given a warm place to stay, and as the girl falls ill, she has to be left in the care of the housewife, Daria Shalikina, so that once she has recovered, she can take the girl to the children’s home herself.
At first, it is not easy for Valentinka to get used to rural life, nor is it easy to settle into a family that already has three children. As the film progresses, mutual affection gradually grows, to the point where the children even begin to regard her as ‘one of their own’. There is no longer any question of sending her to the children’s home, especially as Daria’s husband, who is fighting on the Stalingrad front, supports this decision: ‘I now tell everyone that I have four children.’
