Irina Golitsyna

The film is dedicated to the heroines of Ostrovsky’s plays—wives, cooks, actresses, matchmakers. For the most part, these are composite characters, but many of them have real-life prototypes. The author was a keen observer and recorded everything interesting in his diary. This is how the gallery of images from his native Zamoskvorechye, where Ostrovsky was born, came into being. Later, after traveling along the Volga, portraits of residents from small towns along the river were added. Alexander Nikolaevich never overlooked the details. When the playwright described daily life, the details of clothing, or the manner of speaking of a character, the hero would literally come to life.

The story takes place in the autumn of 1941. On a train slowly heading east, evacuated families of workers and employees from one of Moscow's factories are traveling. Gradually, fear and alienation give way to the warmth of human involvement and solidarity...