Anna Kalturina

The life of Pavla Brus, a middle-aged, modest but principled woman, suddenly changes with a crush on a drilling foreman. Unable to restrain her feelings, she decides to cheat on her husband, divorce and leave the family. But her youngest son Kuzma, a teenager with an intelligent and piercing look at the world around him, stops her from a rash act, which is shaped by observation of Siberian nature. A philosophical attitude towards banal life processes allows the mother to reconsider her feelings for her husband Tikhon and the failed lover Nikolai.

After the war, Trofim returned to his native village from Germany with a girl who had lost her memory in a concentration camp. The care and compassion of the villagers helped the girl to return to a full-blooded life.

Vasily and Vasilisa had seven children and the village respected the hardworking family. One day Vasily got drunk and laid a hand on his faithful wife. It was just before the war.