Mikhail Brylkin

Set around the Volga river, the story begins around 1900, when Russian peasants are let free and allowed to own their farmlands. But soon they suffer from losses during the 1917 Russian Revolution and the following Civil War. Then, the major national catastrophe is started by Stalin: his communist government kills millions of farmers and steals all their food supplies, causing the longest and deadliest famine all over central Russia during the 1920s and 1930s.

The life of the inhabitants of the veterans' house was boring and monotonous. Everything changed with the arrival of the new head physician, Varvara Dmitriyevna. Her kindness and sensitivity began to work miracles. After all, Varvara Dmitriyevna tries not only to treat the ailments of the elderly, but also to return to them their lost interest in life, the belief that one can still love and be loved...

The purposeful village guy is indifferent to entertainment, but strictly follows the daily schedule, studies languages and exact sciences. There are two goals in his life - to become an astronaut and win the heart of his former classmate.

Zhenya is divorced a long time ago, raising her five-year-old son alone, working in a clinic, and part-time as an ambulance worker. She is an optimist and doesn’t complain about life, which is why her colleagues call her happy. Zhenya's unexpected meeting with a new doctor can probably change her life a lot.

The film is set during the last summer before the Great Patriotic War. Three sisters are coming to stay with their grandmother in the village. They imagine the world as a vast and charming "Garden of desires" and all members of the household are waiting for Asya's birthday. Asya has a sense of foreboding regarding the impending grief. Guests come to visit but none of them are her parents. She still does not know that her father was declared an enemy of the people, that tomorrow she will not see her mother and that the war is approaching.