The script about loneliness, conformity and the impossibility of creative realization scared the editorial censorship at the studio, and then at Derzhkino. A lot of claims were made against him. The demands for amendments and endless additions and rewrites by the authors lasted for about a year. The original version of the title "Na pokhony!" ("To bow down!") was replaced by "To Dream and to Live". According to Pylyp Ilyenko, the director's eldest son, this name appeared "as a result of censor pressure." Censorship stopped the tape 40 times: at the stage of the literary script, director's, during film tests (the actors were not approved), filming, etc. The film catastrophically fell apart into fragments, into masterfully filmed, but unrelated scenes. The director called the finished version a "dead film".

A child actor runs away from his film set and embarks on a series of adventures around Kyiv.

Based on an authentic story, and in the pure tradition of Soviet cinema, the tragic fate of a family of Polish Jews during World War II.

Sailor Garkush and minder Nomokonov after the death of the whole team remain on the armored boat N042 together. Fulfilling the order of the command, they blow up the bridge, but find themselves behind enemy lines. In different ways, an infantryman Soloukhin, director of the bank Kozubenko, circus artist Elton and felon Donchak, who escaped from prison, get on an armored boat. Different in character and inclinations, they did not come together right away. Over time, they were united by a common hatred of the enemy, and in the battles with the Nazis their courage, resourcefulness, selflessness were forged ...

On the way to Partisans camp Sgt. Tsybulya suddenly lands in the middle of German troops. Now he must find a way to return to the Red Army.