The former supervisor of the camp of political prisoners, Barkhatov, turned out to be an ordinary corporal in the war, failed, and did not want to change in the new circumstances and remained a camp "turntable". And during the war, being together with naive village people, he arranged a small "puppet" theater, where he became the main "puppeteer".
The teacher scolds Keshka for deuces in English. Instead of doing homework, Keshka succumbs to the persuasion of friends and goes to the video salon for a horror movie with the famous character Freddy Krueger. But Kesha is bored. He falls asleep and has a nightmare.
The beautiful Franka, the daughter of a Polish official, marries a peasant Pavel and cannot accept her happy fate: before her marriage, she had to be a laundress in rich houses and a prostitute. And now Franka's restless soul longs for repentance.
About the difficult and tragic time of collectivization - the de-collectivization. Two puppeteers go around the villages to earn bread and lodging... One night in the woods they are followed by an evil force in the form of a little boy, and in the morning the puppeteers meet the Communists, who are on their way to dispossess the wealthy land