In World War II, the fall of Stalingrad will mean the collapse of the whole country. The Germans and Russians are fighting over every block, leaving only ruins behind. The Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev stalks the Germans, taking them out one by one, thus hurting the morale of the German troops. The political officer Danilov leads him on, publishing his efforts to give his countrymen some hope. But Vassili eventually start to feel that he can not live up to the expectations on him. He and Danilov fall in love with the same girl, Tanya, a female soldier. From Germany comes the master sniper K? to put an end to the extraordinary skilled Russian sniper.

The title of the film is taken from the book "Enemy at the Gate: The Battle for Stalingrad" (1973) by William Craig, which also documents the real-life war exploits of Vasilli Zaitsev.

Nikita Khrushchev:
Vodka is a luxury we have. Caviar is a luxury we have. Time is not.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: As always in "based on a true story" stories, there are many inconsistencies between the people and events from "real life" and the people and events as portrayed in the movie.