The War of 1812. Napoleon's army is retreating. In a snowy forest three Russian soldiers are sitting around a fire. Zaletaev, a red-haired soldier of a certain age, imagines that he has taken Napoleon prisoner. The soldiers make fun of him gently. After dinner they fall asleep... Two Frenchmen arrive: an officer and a soldier. The Russian soldiers wake up and, seeing that the officer can barely stand on his legs and is dying of hunger and cold, take him to their colonel. The French soldier sits down by the fire. The Russians give him kasha and vodka. The Frenchman, reassured, sings a French song. Zaletaev takes it up. The Frenchman, tired, falls asleep on Zaletaev's shoulder. The soldiers cover him carefully. "They are men too," the elderly soldier says with a sigh.
