Dovlatov charts six days in the life of a brilliant, ironic writer who saw far beyond the rigid limits of 70s Soviet Russia. Sergei Dovlatov fought to preserve his own talent and decency with poet and writer Joseph Brodsky, while watching his artist friends got crushed by the iron-willed state machinery.

Three friends, Sergey Fedotov, Nurali Aslanbekov and Andrey Khomenko, Russian, Kazakh and Ukrainian, served and fought together in Afghanistan. After being injured in the hospital, all three of them took care of the same girl. Fate has divorced friends.

A group Russian soldiers is send to an outpost to guard the area. They pass the day patroulling the area, while being shot at from the forest. They never know if the civillions are hostile or friendly to them.