Rustem Yuskayev

Quelque part sur la steppe, au bord du Don, la jeune Vera vit avec sa petite fille et Valery, son mari alcoolique, dans des conditions d'extrême dénuement. Lors d'un mariage, ses yeux croisent ceux de Pavel. Un amour fou naît entre eux.

Two twenty-year-olds meet each other in the sanatorium and fall in love. Ksenia is an alchoholic, Maxim is suicidal. Gradually it becomes clear that the characters, betrayed by their relatives, kept inside the sanatorium, constrained by regimes and the cult of work therapy, are healthier and freer than many of those who live outside.