Sashko, a soldier of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion, survives after a firing under Ilovajsk and tries to get to his fellowmen. Along the way, he meets the most unexpected companions and enemies.

Shortly before the start of the First World War, in a Viennese cafe they met: the psychiatrist Sigmund, the seminarian Joseph, the provincial journalist Lev, the painter Adolf, a loser in life. The heroes will drink coffee, which will be prepared for them by a waitress, a girl from Galicia, and not even guess that very soon they will direct the fate of the twentieth century.