In 1933, a child orphaned during the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Holodomor runs away from his orphanage and is taken in by a Red Army unit and adopted by its kindly commander, who gives him the name Leo Demidov. In 1945, now a sergeant with the unit, Leo becomes an icon across the Soviet Union when he is Raising a flag over the Reichstag atop the Reichstag (building) during the Battle of Berlin. He becomes a Hero of the Soviet Union.