They have finished their high-school studies and deferred their service in the Israeli army in order to volunteer for a year's community work and preliminary military training in a special pre-enlistment program in Gilo, Jerusalem. These young men and women both religious and secular, of a variety of political persuasions - are typical products of Israeli society trying to live together for one year during which they hope to get to know one another and to put the prejudices they have grown up with to the test of daily life. One month after their arrival a new chapter in the annals of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unfolds before their very eyes with the sudden outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada. The outbreak of hostilities finds the group only a few meters away from the firing line, close to what within days will become one of the symbols of the year - the northern border of Jerusalem, a favourite target for snipers in the nearby Arab town of Beit Jala on the other side of the valley. In the course of this "survival year" the main characters pour out their hearts and say what many Israelis think and feel. They provide us with a rare opportunity to observe Israeli society as it appears through the eyes of young people awaiting the start of their military service who have found themselves, one year too early, in the front line.