In "An Incident at Krechetovka Station," a Red Army lieutenant named Zotov is confronted by a disturbing straggler soldier and must decide what to do with him. He ultimately sends him to a miserable imprisonment because the poor wretch doesn't know the previous name of the city of Stalingrad. "Matryona's House" is the tale of an old peasant woman, whose tenacious struggle against cold, hunger, and greedy relatives is described by a young man who only understands her after her death.