At the air base in the Italian city of Foggia, American pilots led by Edward Walsh prepare for takeoff. Their route is the city of Ploesti in Romania, where they plan to bomb German oil facilities. After returning from Romania, a badly damaged Allied plane crashes in the Serbian village of Pranjani. Captain Zvonko Vučković orders Second Lieutenant Mirko Jović to rescue the American airmen before they are captured by the Germans and Bulgarians. The plane crash was witnessed by members of Mirko's family - father Kosta, grandfather Miloš, younger brother Ilija and sister Radmila, who were loading hay not far from the accident site.