As a boy, Vasiliy Zaitsev is taught to shoot deer by his father in the forests of the Ural Mountain foothills and becomes an expert with a rifle. As a young adult, he is among thousands of new recruits who arrive at Stalingrad in August 1942 to fight the Nazi invaders.
The young recruits disembark from their train into a nightmare scene of noise, smoke, chaos and death. At the front line, they are told to attack – one rifle given to each two soldier – but mown down by the German’s superior weaponry. Those who retreat are shot on sight by communist party officials, determined to prevent desertions.
The Germans move forward, but two Russians lie alive among the piles of corpses: Vasiliy and a party official, Danilov. Handed a rifle by Danilov, Vasiliy manages to shoot dead an entire group of German officers.
Later, at party headquarters, while Khrushchev is lambasting the political officers over the near-fall of Stalingrad, Danilov suggests a propaganda campaign, making Vasiliy a sharpshooter hero to be emulated by other Russians.
Vassili is promoted from foot soldier to sniper division. As the two sides battle for control of the ruined city, scores of German officers are wiped out by he and his comrades day after day. His exploits are widely reported and he soon becomes a national hero
Howver, Hitler has become obsessed with taking over the city named after his rival. He sees Stalingrad as a personal battle between Stalin and himself and sends expert German sniper Major Koenig to Russia to eliminate Vassili. A deadly cat and mouse game ensues between the German general and the shepherd boy from the Urals.
After the first battle between the two snipers ends inconclusively, Vasiliy is taken to see Stalin and told ‘the whole world is looking at you’. The message is clear: whoever wins the duel will win a vital propaganda victory that could turn the tide of the war. Yet the cat-and-mouse game goes on and on without either sniper killing the other.
At party headquarters, Danilov has fallen in love with a fellow Jew, Tanya, who is working as a translator. But when she discovers her family, living in Germany, has been captured and killed by the Nazis, she decides she wants to fight as a sniper instead.
Tanya is trained by Vasiliy and the next day arrives at the tractor factory just in time to save his life from Koenig. That night, the two comrades make love. The next day, when Danilov sees them kissing, he goes into a jealous rage and orders the printing of material discrediting Vasiliy.
At the dockside the last citizens of Stalingrad are being evacuated. Danilov accompanies Tanya as she takes her adoptive mother to the boat. But Tanya is hit by a shell and looks unlikely to survive.
Danilov has a change of heart; he tracks down Vasiliy, still stalking Koenig, and apologises for his behaviour.
Danilov has realised that communism has not made Russians better people. “Man will always be man; there is no new man,’ he laments. ‘We tried so hard to create a society where you would have no need to envy your neighbour. But there’s always something to envy.”
Distraught, he gives one last gift to Vassili. “I want to do something for you. Let me show you where the Major is.” Vassili cries “No!” but Danilov raises his head about the parapet and Koenig kills him – revealing his position. This enables Vasiliy to at last get his man.
The battle ends by February 1943. It is a turning point and the beginning of Hitler’s demise.
Tanya has survived and writes to Vassily. He tracks her down in hospital and they look forward to a new life together