Serik Zhubandykov

Chouga is a beautiful, rich and beloved young woman. She is thirty and lives in Astana, the Kazak new capital. She is married to a famous scientist in his sixties and has a seven-year-old son. Her brother and sister-in-law live in Almaty. The couple is tearing apart and Chouga’s brother requests her to come and try to bring them back together. There she meets Ablaï, a rich and idle young man whom she strongly feels attracted to. Once back to Astana, Chouga tries to withstand this sensual attraction about which she has a premonition of a tragic outcome.

A young man Danesh learns of ancient relics, including a ruby that once a year can help find treasure in the Canyon of Scorpio. As the old man holding the knowledge passes away, Danesh receives the ruby and a map, setting out for an adventure full of mystery and danger, friend and foe, set under the dazzling southern sun.

The film focuses on the evacuation of people from the regions of the USSR at risk of Nazi occupation to the eastern parts of the country. At the time Kazakhstan received around 1.5 million people and it is still the home for many of them. Two protagonists – Natalia and her daughter Galya – move east with the rest of the evacuees. In the chaos at one of the railway stations, Natalia loses sight of her daughter and goes to look for her in Almaty, which is overcrowded with evacuees.

When Kanat hits the bottom, still living with his mother at 40 passed, stuck mid level in his bank job, fantasizing from afar on girls, the unexpected encounter with his evil half, longtime friend Daniyar makes him take a moral u turn and his life takes a plunge in the dark.