Plot Summary:Moldavia, USSR, ca August 1944. The Great Patriotic War (WWII). Over the past two years, the Soviet Army has retaken most of the Crimea, Ukraine, from the fascist Nazi invaders. Through the well-planned execution of Operation Chisinau-Iasi, they have just liberated the Soviet Republic of Moldavia. One of the liberators is Red Army Lieutenant Andrey Besfamilnyy. He is a "razvedchik", an army scout. He is known as a dare-devil, immune to bullets. His last name -- both a Russian surname and a Russian word meaning "without a family" -- is the only thing about him that might hint at his childhood, spent abandoned and homeless, surviving alone in the streets. He is the leader of a "razved-vzvod", an elite squad of reconnaissance scouts, specially trained to penetrate deep behind enemy lines, gather data -- uncover the enemy's positions, determine their strengths and weaknesses, and discover their plans -- relay that information back to their commanders by radio, and then, if they can, ...