Nine Days of One Year

Two young physicists and old friends - the possessed experimental physicist Dmitri Gusev (Aleksey Batalov) and the skeptical theoretical physicist Ilya Kulikov (Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy) - conduct nuclear studies at a research institute in Siberia. Dmitri leads the research started by his teacher Sintsov (Nikolai Plotnikov), who has received a deadly dose of radiation as a result of an experiment. Dmitri has also been irradiated. Doctors warn him that further irradiation might kill him as well. Meanwhile, his friend Ilya and Lyolya (Tatyana Lavrova), a love interest of Dmitri, have developed a romantic relationship. The enamored couple is getting prepared for the wedding and looking for an opportunity to inform Dmitri. When they finally meet, Dmitri already suspects Lyolya and Ilya are planning to marry and treats them coldly. Caught up in self-contradictions, Lyolya tries to understand Dmitri's true feelings for her, only to learn about his terrible diagnosis. Realizing that she still loves Dmitri, Lyolya cancels the wedding to Ilya in order to marry Dmitri. Despite the health warnings, Dmitri continues with his experiments in fusion power. After a number of failures, he turns to Ilya for help. Whilst carrying out the experiment successfully, Dmitri receives a new radiation dose. He tries to hide this fact from everyone, including his wife Lyolya who is misinterpreting his sudden isolation, though the truth eventually rises to the surface. The research work has been continued by Ilya. Dmitri's health is getting worse, but he decides to fight his illness to the end and agrees to undergo bone marrow transplantation.