The film is about the Askania Nova natural reserve and about people who love the place and give their lives trying to care for wild nature. Counterintuitively enough, these people, united by a common idea of securing the well-being of Askania Nova, find it impossible to agree among themselves. Our hero, Nikolai Khlebniuk, was fired from his job at the reserve 20 years ago and now lives in a dilapidated hut in Askania; in spite of that, he has no plans to move elsewhere anytime soon. Our film is about the secret that keeps Nikolai in this place for decades.
