Victor Troska is an ex-Special Forces soldier, living a peaceful civilian life on the island of Nogova, a devastated former socialist outpost of the Soviet Union. But the fascination of a new-found freedom is slowly dimming, corruption proliferates, criminality festers and some people start calling for Soviet authority. Nogova is located a short distance from the Malden Islands, and its natural beauty spots are juxtaposed with built-up areas which still haven't recovered from years of socialist ideology and lifestyle.

However, the situation changes when a Soviet force invades the island group and destroys Troska's idyllic dreams. Reluctant at first to return to his warlike ways, he is forced to participate in, and then lead, the ramshackle Resistance effort, which grows up in response to the Soviet occupation of the island.