The plot is dedicated to Fyodor Konyukhov's round-the-world balloon flight. He completed it in 2016 in 11 days and set a world record.

Wounded as a tank driver in 1941 during WWII, Kalashnikov sees the latest Soviet machine gun fail. As he's also an inventor, he starts looking for improvements and in 1947 ends up with AK-47 assault rifle.