Elena is a student in Minsk. She is having an intense but self-destructive love affair with Viktor. When Elena's father goes to prison she has to take charge of his business dealings to help him. She drives repeatedly into the restricted zone at Chernobyl, behind the wheel of a truck, in order to smuggle contaminated steel. The conflicts with Viktor escalate, and Elena is increasingly captivated by the zone's deceptive beauty...
In a small Belarusian village where time seems to stand still, Jasja must deal with her mother's death. She takes every duty upon herself to fill the void a mother has left behind. Someone must hold the pieces together. Still, her father decides to send her to an orphanage with the promise of returning. When he fails to show up, she decides to run away and go back home instead.
Van'ka works as a doorman at the hotel. He hates its wealthy guests, but has dreams to live a luxurious life. Forced to live in a car, he's miserable. In this already difficult situation he comes across the collector Sergey, who is determined to knock out the debt out of Vanka.
Fifteen-year-old Marina is given a terrible diagnosis - leukemia. Parents are shocked and they decide that only abroad can heal their child. But the oncologist Olga Nikolaevna convinces them that the girl cannot be taken away, but must be treated here, at home. In addition to everything, Marina has a rare blood group, which doctors do not have reserves of. The girl’s mother also cannot become a donor - she is expecting a second child, and an operation must be urgently needed ...
Slowed down, blown up and newly scored 1930's footage depicting daily life and religious rituals of villagers from Bryansk Polesia on the border between modern Russia and Belarus.
The main characters of the film—forester Michal, his wife Hanna, and his brother Antos—passionately dream of their own land and freedom. However, they currently lack the money to purchase a plot, and Michal is forced to move from place to place to feed his large family. Michal and his loved ones will have to overcome many hardships and adversities to get even a little closer to realizing their dream...