A touching story of the relationship between two teenagers who met by chance in besieged Leningrad. Masha and Sergei are fighting hunger and death. She reads over and over a book about the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and the words of this story help her to be stronger, and he plays his favorite piano. The film is filled with soft sadness. The unique technique of combining animation and staged filming with the participation of actors gives the theme of war and blockade an amazing touch of authentic memories.