The movie starts off with a family celebrating Christmas and they all seem elated. It's
1944 and thus the family of four have a nice warm dinner after the celebration.
They all start praying when the little girl asks the reason for their prayer. When her grandfather
answers that it's thanking God for taking care of them, she counters saying that God is not,
because her father isn't with them. Her mother asks her to be quiet but she continues saying
that she knows her father will never return. This angers her mother and she slaps the little
girl right across the face. This creates tension in the atmosphere and the once happy environment
becomes dull and cold. The little girl cries herself to sleep as her mother tries to console
her. The little girl adds that she doesn't even remember what her father looks like,
causing her mother to reminisce about the moments she spent with her husband. It almost
seems like a dream turned into a nightmare. The woman, who's name is Iren, seems to be living
a wonderful life with her husband who's a soldier. He was sent to war but never returned.
One day, Iren sees an army walk past her neighbourhood. The army wants to take her
for husking maize apparently, but she knows something's wrong. Iren's mother doesn't want
her to go, but if she doesn't then the army would forcefully take another family member.
Anyone who tries to escape is shot. Iren's mother is terrified but agrees nonetheless. Iren dresses
up in warm clothes and bids her family goodbye. Iren's daughter isn't happy with Iren leaving.
She runs away knowing both her parents are in places from where they might never return.
Iren tries to console her but fails. Her father tells her he'll take good care of
Iren's daughter and urges her to go. A Russian soldier takes her away and as
Iren's daughter screams for her to not leave, the Russian soldier shows no mercy and pushes
Iren to keep walking. A group of Hungarian women are headed to an unknown place by the Russians.
All the women have tears falling from their faces as they might never see their family again. Iren
is extremely distressed as well but keeps on. The Russian soldiers mistreat a girl who's deaf but
Iren befriends her. They tread on together. Iren hands the deaf girl some bread. The other
women recognize Iren as the pastor's daughters and contemplate what she's doing here. Iren lived in
the city until her family was bombed out and they were forced to live in the village. The women soon
board an unknown train. As she's about to go in the train, two men try to escape but they're
shot and killed instantly. This causes chaos and fear rising among the women. The soldiers
throw the women into the carriage forcefully where they sadly accept their fates.
The women have small talks amongst each other about their ethnicity. There's Hungarians,
gypsies and even some Russian women. Iren helps everyone in the carriage struggling
to take care of themselves. She treats the deaf girl like her own daughter. It's chilling to the
point even your bones might freeze. They finally arrive at their destination.
One of the women gets extremely sick as they reach, and Iren asks the guards for help but they
have no mercy and no humanity. They try to hit Iren instead but she is saved by the Russian woman
who came along with them. The women are dragged along like cattle in the cold. Along the way, they
see dead bodies of starved women getting thrown out which makes them fear for their life.
Iren is sent to a cabin where she is stripped naked for the doctor to check if she's healthy.
She's then injected with some unknown chemicals. She is sent to a bathing place without any
of her clothes. She's freezing and her body trembles uncontrollably. What's going on here?
She doesn't know but she washes herself with the dirty, bone-chilling cold water as sobs of agony
escape her lips. Other women are sent there along with Iren including the little deaf girl.
The naked women are thrown into a barn where they find others. They scramble to wear warm clothes
and go to bed instantly. The deaf girl whose name is Anna stays with Iren as she's scared. The next
day, all the prisoners are placed and the Russian woman translates everything the soldiers say.
The Russian soldiers blame these innocent women and men for the destruction Hitler has done.
In order to reimburse them, the women are forced to work in mines as slaves. There are
rules places for everyone to behave, and if anyone so much as tries to break them
is starved for three days and punished. The women are petrified but agree to whatever
the soldiers say. They're thousands of miles away enraptured in snow with nowhere to run.
They are guarded 24/7 and anyone who tries to escape is murdered brutally.
The women are to work until the war is over and the buildings are rebuilt. Only then are
they allowed to go home. They work tirelessly day and night. Iren accompanies Anna everywhere
as she reminds Iren of her own daughter. They work at mines laboriously and are taken back to
the camp after their daily quota is complete. With the abysmally inhuman conditions at the camp,
Iren's skin tears off with her socks when she's about to bathe. Even the water is frozen.
The food's finished and they sleep on empty stomachs. Iren gets Anna a piece of coal to
write things down for easier communication. One Guard intrigues Iren but she doesn't
pay much heed to it. The guards always allot Iren and Anna to work together.
Iren sees the guard fighting another one. She observes everything around her. The guard tells
her he's a prisoner just like her and his job is to oversee everything. Since Iren and Anna
have the most rigorous job, they always work late which means they get no supper. They go
to bed empty stomach for days on end. Iren gets irritated as she's forced to skip supper because
of Anna. Anna tells her she'll work alone and after three days, Iren gets to have supper.
But Anna is late again. The food is finished and her health is deteriorating. But Iren has saved
some food for her and gives it to her. Iren has a secret admirer who seems to have
grown a liking towards her. He gives her spoons to eat from and Iren smiles at the generosity.
On the other hand, Eva, the Russian woman gets treated way better than the others and
she eats with the generals. Her job is to keep the generals satisfied physically.
The next day, Anna gets sick at the mine and Iren goes to talk to the guard whose name is Fabian.
Iren hastily gets her to the infirmary with the help of Eva. The nurse checks on her
but says there's no room. Turns out, Anna is infected by Typhus, a disease spread by fleas.
Iren stays up all night tending to her. Iren tries to take care of her but the guards
pull the two out of the bed and throw them into the mines to work.
Anna can barely stand and needs support. Iren asks Fabian to get her some medicine.
Fabian gets a dealer to bring the medicine. Iren gives the dealer her ring in order to
get the expensive medicine. But the dealer never comes back. He cheated her and disappeared.
On the other hand, Iren is still hopeful but the guard tells them to leave the mine.
Iren tells the guard they're waiting for medicine and the guard leaves them in the snow.
He tells to come back exactly within 10 minutes or they'd get put to eternal sleep and Iren agrees.
As they're waiting out in the freezing cold, Iren spots a wolf. Scared that they might get attacked,
Iren carries Anna and runs. But Anna is too weak and she falls to the snow.
She dies because of the disease and Iren is heartbroken. It's like her own daughter died.
She drags Anna's lifeless body through the snow, but the wolf comes back because of the smell.
The wolves come attacking and Iren runs through the snow leaving Anna behind. She runs and runs
until a guard finds her. She begs him to go back but he threatens to shoot her. She snatches
his gun and other guards come along. She begs them to go to Anna but they knock her out.
The next morning, she finds herself in a cell. She tries to get out but can't.
She begs for them to get her out but they turn a deaf ear towards her. She suddenly starts hearing
noises from beneath the ground. As she digs deeper into the soil, she finds a secret doorway.
She quickly goes in and sees her daughter. This is strange. She's back in her own house.
Suddenly, her husband comes back from the war and assures her everything is going to be okay.
She soon realizes this is all but a dream. The guards get her out of the prison and her
health is severely declined. She has got typhus too. The doctor examines her and leaves quickly.
At the mines, the man who always admired Iren starts searching for her. To his dismay,
he finds out she hasn't come to work for a long time. The man goes to the barn to check
on Iren but she isn't there either. He soon goes to the infirmary to find her lying there
with all the others who are soon going to die. Iren is still in her dream having a nice time with
her family, when the man's voice wakes her up. Iren is scared he might hurt her but he ensures
that he'll take care of her. He pays the doctor a handsome price so she gets the care she needs.
Iren finds out she's balding due to the severe conditions she has endured. The man comes back
and introduces himself as Rajmund. He gives her food to eat and get herself better.
Rajmund continues to give her food and medicine and Iren is grateful. He trades cigarettes for
food with the guards and visits Iren. He offers to help her get around the place.
Rajmund confesses he likes her and kisses her. But she says she has a family, to which Rajmund
tells her to forget them as they're never going back. He adds that there's no God in a place
like this. There's no God in hell itself. Iren rejects him saying she's faithful to her
husband. Rajmund leaves. The next day, as the doctor is treating Iren, the nurse comes in with
a serious face. She whispers something serious in the doctor's ear. The doctor's face turns ghastly,
and he tells Iren that Berlin's fallen and Hitler has died. The war is over. He tells
her that she can go home soon now. Iren is ecstatic to find out. The doctor tells her
to rest as she's still very weak. She dreams about her family again. And
jerks away when she realizes because dreams are deadly here. She is somewhat healthy and
strong again. She gets out of the infirmary but is thrown into the barn by the guard.
There's no one inside. She assumes everyone is working and stays there. Soon, the others come
in and they check on her. She tells them that the war's over but no one seems to be rejoicing.
The women tell her that they aren't allowed to go home anymore by Stalin's orders.
Iren is devastated. They try to rebel against this but also realize that it's no use.
Iren goes back to work as usual. She meets Rajmund and tells him that she'll do anything to survive,
as she promised her daughter she'd go home soon. She tells Rajmund nothing will ever
happen between them but wants his help. He tells her the rules to survive which are to
forget family and not think much; just work. He teaches her how to make cigarettes to get her
way at the gulag. He teaches her how to lure the guards as well so that she doesn't have to
work much. Iren learns a lot from him. She asks her to bathe everyday no matter how cold it is.
He introduces her to all the guards and workers there. Rajmund even hands the cook some cigarettes
to get more food and Iren learns it all. Iren wants to help the others, but Rajmund advises
her not to in order to save themselves. But Iren asks him why he's not following his own rules.
Rajmund simply replies that he loves her. At the barn, Eva is no longer wanted by the
general as she's sick and they don't want to get contaminated. She asks Iren for help but Iren
declines saying she doesn't care about anything else, but returning back to her daughter. This
causes a small argument and Eva walks away. One day at work, a whole tunnel collapses on
top of Rajmund. Iren rushes to help him and takes him to the infirmary quickly.
She hands him as many cigarettes as she has for the doctors to take care of him. She starts
loving him too without realising it. Rajmund gives Eva her medicine in return for an hour to
spend with Iren. They make love at a cabin. It's been four years and Iren is happily living
with Raymond. She has ranked higher in work and is now a guard at the mines. She and Rajmund sleep
together at the barn. She hears commotion one day and runs to the guard to learn about it. What she
learns shakes her to her core and she hugs Eva while crying happy tears. Rajmund asks Iren what's
happening. They can finally go home now. They all leave the gulag to go back to their families.
Iren and Rajmund stay in the train, hand in hand as they head home. The guard there says
they all get to go home tomorrow. But there's a problem. Since Rajmund is from another place
which is now Yugoslavia, he can't go with Iren to Hungary. And Iren can't ever visit Rajmund either,
since visas won't be granted to capitalist countries. They both decide to declare themselves
as Germans to stay together. Rajmund's sons are grown now but they plan to get
Iren's daughter to them as soon as possible. Rajmund sure misses his sons but he also knows
he can't live without Iren anymore. He declares himself as German and waits for Iren to do the
same, but Iren declares herself as Hungarian. Raymond waits for her but she never comes back.
The van starts moving and Raymond loses hope, but then he sees Iren running towards him.
He thinks Iren is there to come with him but she's there to say goodbye.
Raymond is devastated to leave Iren behind. She gives him a letter that thanks him for his
love, and tells him to live without her as she's heading home now. She thanks him
for giving her hope. Tears don't stop falling from Raymond's eyes. Iren finally comes home.
Her mother is shocked and rejoices at her arrival. Her father welcomes her well,
as she learns that her husband passed away at war. Iren's daughter finally gets her mother back.