Zhili-byli starik so starukhoi..

In the heart of Siberia, on the banks of the Yenisei River, a husband and wife live. They have raised ten children, who have left the house long ago. Since then, Egor and Uliana share the sweet and the bitter as one. The days pass by in a pleasant tempo: they play a game of cards, chop some wood, talk to the dog, curse the mosquitoes, light a smoke and reminisce about the past. About the horrors of World War II, for example, when Egor was brutally battered by the Germans and put to work as a forced labourer in Polish mines. Still, he is not eligible for an allowance from a fund for war victims because it is not intended for prisoners of war, so they learn from the rejection letter that the mailman reads to them. Soldiers come sailing by, in search of an escaped convict who is allegedly hiding in the area. The couple is unable to give them any leads, but they can give them some water. Elderly people are the largest group of inhabitants of the often semi-deserted villages in the Russian countryside. Their furrowed faces are signs of tough outdoor life, which in a time of urbanisation becomes increasingly rare.