The film begins with the main character Ivan Yermakov (Alexei Chadov) being interviewed, and as he begins his story the films cuts into the year 2000 during the Second Chechen War, after the fall of Grozny a Chechen warlord Aslan Gugayev (Giorgi Gurgulia) runs a camp next to an aul in the highlands of Chechnya. Despite having secure income from his organized crime gangs in Moscow, Saint Peterburg and Samara as well as some legitimate business there, he takes joy in kidnapping, since that is more patriotic and militant than random crime. Both Ivan and his comrade Fedka were enslaved after they were taken prisoners in early 2000. They also had to share their accommodation with a commercial Russian-Jewish hostage Semyon from Vladikavkaz, who was held for ransom. 
　　However that particular day they were joined by two more, an English couple, theatre actors John Boyle (Ian Kelly) and his fiancée Margaret (Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė). They were kidnapped in Georgia during their tour there performing Shakespeare's Hamlet who John played. Ivan, having pre-draft experience with computers, knew a little English and not only was he a translator for John; he was also entrusted by Aslan to utilize the Internet for communication. The five shared shocking living conditions in a pit, and every once in a while the Chechens would show how far they would go to get their way, through actions like publicly beheading two Russian servicemen and severing Semyon's finger one by one for ransom delays.