Sergey Kachanov

Ksenia and Maxim are two twenty-year-olds who meet in the psych ward and fall in love. Ksenia is an alchoholic, Maxim is suicidal. They have been both sent here by their relatives, who did not want to deal with their children and their problems. Gradually it becomes clear that the the two lovers, betrayed by their relatives, committed to the psych ward, constrained by regimes and the cult of work therapy, are healthier and freer than many of those who live outside.

The USSR, 1957 – a time of hope and genuine belief that the future will be bright. The Soviet satellite is conquering space, and on the Earth, in a little port city, the bright beaming eyes of Konyok and Lara - a naive restaurant cook and his waitress girlfriend - follow the movement of the satellite with hope and excitement. Their romance is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious stranger, Gherman. He knows for sure that one can not run away from this country. One can only fly. Or swim. When Lara is smitten by Gherman's mysterious cynicism a lover's triangle starts to emerge.