When Russian forces invaded Ukraine and bombed Kyiv, film director Stas Kapralov's family dog, Nika, ran away. Determined to find her, Stas set out into the devastation and documents his journey as he joins volunteers helping to rescue animals. Becoming a part of their cause, Stas films the trials and successes of the volunteers as he continues his search for Nika, which takes him to the 'Sirus' Shelter, the largest in Europe, housing 3,500 animals, and still receiving emaciated and hungry dogs daily. Meeting Alexandra, the director of the 'Sirus' shelter, she regularly risks her life to find food for the animals, and is determined to never abandon them. Alexandra's iron will inspires Stas, and even though he is unable to locate Nika at the shelter, he does not give up hope, deciding to take a more active role in helping the volunteers and other animals in need.

Joining forces with another volunteer, Olena, Stas documents and aids in the rescue of a blind and abandoned lion, Ruru, as she's brought across the Ukrainian border to Poland. Later, he meets Alex, a volunteer who helped Kyiv inhabitants escape the city at the start of the war, and now risks his life rescuing animals left behind by their owners. Among the rubble of bombed and burned stables, Stas hears Yura's story of his horses who were like members of his family and died in the bombings; Yura now searches for a safe home for the surviving horses. In another instance, Stas journeys to Harkov, experiencing mortar shelling first-hand, as he becomes part of urgent evacuations of animals at a zoo actively being bombed, and where two volunteers were just recently.

What begins as a journey motivated by the disappearance of his dog, Nika, becomes a mission to document and aid in a humanitarian movement to help as many animals as possible in Ukraine. Documenting and participating in this journey, Stas discovers stories of altruism and humanity amidst the harshest landscape of war. By the end of his journey, Stas finally finds out what happened to his dog Nika.