Vasily Panin (played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov), a junker of a school of naval engineers, is one of those entrusted with this dangerous task.

In the evening of that same day Panin arrives at a military vessel named Elizaveta, which is supposed to leave for France the next morning.

Panin and other Bolshevik seamen onboard Elizaveta hide the fugitives in a non-operational boiler of the ship.

In France, Panin establishes contact with local Bolshevik emigres, who provide him with the money and a passport to return to Russia.

At the trial, however, he tells a made-up story about his love affairs, and the court decides to simply demote him to the ranks.