Plot summary

This is the story of one village under Soviet rule. Oigen, an alcoholic, is rewarded by the authorities with a bottle of vodka for every man from the village he turns in for political crimes. He even trades his own son, Yasha, who is mentally challenged, for a bottle of vodka. Oigen's wife is tricked into betraying Jakob, the village teacher and expert chess player. She is told that her son Yasha will be freed in exchange for her betrayal of Jakob. The prison camp commander has a long standing grudge against Jakob for an imagined insult many years before after his father lost a chess match to Jakob. He wants him to be arrested and jailed under his command. So Jakob is tricked into praying at the burial of Yasha's uncle, who is not really dead but has provided a prisoner's corpse for the funeral. Jakob is arrested that night, but Yasha is not released in exchange as promised.The camp commander is also a master chess player, and has promised to free anyone who beats him at a chess match. Jakob begins to teach his fellow prisoners to play chess. The camp guards harass the prisoners, demanding to know who has religious writings. One by one, prisoners are caught with the forbidden Bible verses on treasured scraps of paper, and they are taken out to be executed. Each time, a guard returns a scrap of paper with the initial of the deceased. The prisoners paint each initial on the rafter above them. As time passes. the initials of the executed prisoners spell out I-N-F-E-R-N-O.In defiance of this man-made hell, the prisoners form a choir under Jakob's tutelage. They sing spiritual songs, and as time passes, the men become braver, more loyal to each other, and form a cohesive group. Only Bruno is still twisted by anger and bitterness. A bell is smuggled in to Jakob from his granddaughter, the narrator of this tale. Yasha is taught to play the bell in rhythm with their singing. The Biblical story of Jakob's ladder is told and retold among them, and begins to take on mythic proportions as the way out of their hell. Yasha announces that he will pray for God to build a ladder for them, and in his childish simplicity he kneels before all of them and prays silently for a moment.Jakob finally has his chess match with the camp commandant, and Yasha kneels, praying, while the rest of the prisoners watch. When Jakob wins, the commandant shouts, "I am not a monster" and grants Jakob's wish that Bruno be released instead of him. This causes much turmoil in Bruno's soul, and even violent outbursts towards Jakob. He is especially troubled when Oigen, their betrayer, is brought in as a prisoner. Oigen, knowing he won't survive among those he has betrayed, is quickly shot trying to escape. Yasha buries him, and forgives him for sending him away to this new family where they don't have enough to eat and a friend has taught him to play the bell. Each prisoner forgives their betrayer, pouring a handful of soil on his grave. All but Bruno, who is distressed by the experience of his hard heart breaking. But in the end his heart is melted when Jakob asks Bruno to forgive him and tells him that Jakob's ladder, the only way out, is mercy. The prisoners begin to sing their favorite hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, as Jakob dies of an apparent stroke.The movie ends with Bruno, now released from prison and wearing Jakob's coat, returning the bell to Jakob's daughter and granddaughter, in his first act of kindness in his new life.