Plot Summary

In 1944, at the tail end of the war—in which Finland aligned with Germany for a time in a bid to fight off an invasion by the Soviet Union, before reaching a peace deal with the latter which involved kicking German troops out—soldiers Heikki and Pauli take their first steps toward adulthood in the unforgiving expanse of the Arctic Circle, and interpreter Saara Vainio leaves her husband for German officer Duisberg, defying both convention and country. When news of Finland’s armistice with the Soviet Union reaches the front lines, everything changes: Heikki and Pauli are forced to turn their weapons on those they once fought alongside, and Saara and other women must choose between love and loyalty.