Vladimir grows up in a Christian family in the Soviet Union. Churches are burned, Bibles banned and Believers persecuted. Atheism is enforced at school, and he is ridiculed and mocked. He learns to drink from his grandfather, learns about God from his grandmother and parents. But he joins in rebellion, vandalizing and drinking. He goes away to school at fifteen where a born-again cousin talks to him of God and takes him to underground church. The first part ends when police break up this meeting and he is arrested.