[2] The film received three Jussi Awards: Mollberg for directing and actors Risto Tuorila as Koskela and Paavo Liski as Rokka.

[3] Set against the events of the Finnish Continuation war, the film follows a machine gun troop's journey into the Soviet Union.

They face many struggles, such as seeing the supportive Kaarna die in their first battle and three of the soldiers refusing to leave their punishment post during an air-raid, as well as defending the trenches after the Finns have taken back parts of Karelia.

Partway through their journey, the troop is joined by Rokka, a Karelian veteran of the Winter War, who also clashes with Lammio due to having little respect for military discipline, despite being an excellent and capable soldier.

The film was shot in color with much hand-held footage, attempting to portray the story more realistically than the prior Edvin Laine version.