The film is based on the memoirs of V.P. Astafyev. The writer gives an interview to the critic V.Ya. Kurbatov, discusses life during the war and post-war times, compares the current generation of people with the previous ones, and calls for thinking about the revival and preservation of the high moral qualities inherent in the Russian people.
Interleaved: A.I. Potylitsyna narrates, village houses, natural landscapes.
People by a campfire on the river bank.
The fire is burning. V.P. Astafyev recalls.
A kettle over the fire.
Burning firewood. V.Ya.
Kurbatov by the campfire.
A cup and a book on the table, the wind.
Tree branches.
Portraits on the shelves. V.P. Astafyev’s books.
View from the window.
A lamp, books, newspapers, and glasses on the table. V.P. Astafyev narrates.
Tree branches.
Streets of a European city. V.P. Astafyev. V.Ya.
Kurbatov at the table next to the writer.
People on the streets of Krasnoyarsk.
Women drinking and having a snack on a bench. V.P. Astafyev.
The window of a house, the camera loses focus.
Astafiev V.P. - front-line soldier
writer
Hero of Socialist Labor. Kurbatov V.Ya. -- literary critic
literary scholar
prose writer
Member of the Union of Writers of Russia.
1989
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk Krai
Summer Autumn
Residents of Krasnoyarsk, poplar fluff flying.
Poplar fluff burning.
Traffic. V.P. Astafyev in the car.
River bank.
Fire, bucket of water.
Writer fishing from the pier.
Blooming grasses.
Cows walking on water.
People eating fish soup.
Fishpond.
Interspersed: V.P. Astafyev's memoirs, fishing, natural landscapes.
Writer with a fishing rod on the bank. V.Ya.
Kurbatov lights a fire.
River panorama, thunderclouds.
It is raining.
Chronicle of the war years: Soldiers crossing the river.
River waves, sedge thickets.
Chronicle of the war years: Soldiers carry a wounded man on a stretcher.
A soldier helps the wounded man get out on the bank.
Rain over the river.
Reflections of clouds in the water, coastal grasses. V.P. Astafyev narrates.
Chronicle of the war years: Soldiers are building a crossing for military equipment, strong wind, snow.
Astafiev V.P. Kurbatov V.Ya.
1941-1945
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk Krai
Summer
Chronicle of the war years: Soldiers pull horses stuck in the water.
Explosion.
Soldier in a trench.
Soldiers rest near a tank (smoking, eating, writing letters).
Clouds of smoke, soldiers running to the crossing.
Freight train with tanks. V.P. Astafyev narrates.
Meadow grasses.
Algae in the water.
Lake in a quarry.
Children jump into the water. V.P. Astafyev sits on the bank.
A girl swims with a ring.
View of a village, cows in a field.
People walk across a meadow.
Blooming grasses.
Alternation: a girl feeds a sparrow, a writer on the porch with a newspaper.
A woman feeds chickens.
Blooming sunflower.
The writer sits on the porch with his granddaughters, the girl sings, women bring out food for the birds.
A boy rides a horse along the road.
A flock of geese on the road.
A veteran walks along the road.
A man carries grass on a cart.
A boy feeds a horse.
Veterans talking on the street.
Children with a horse.
A car driving away along a country road towards the horizon.
A grain field.
Astafiev V.P. Kurbatov V.Ya.
1941-1945
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Summer
Clouds.
Interchange: interview with V.P.Astafyev, rural natural landscapes.
Market crowd.
People drinking alcohol in the street.
A bus passes by.
A man grabs a woman by the jacket and leads her away.
A policeman walks through the crowd.
Sellers and buyers.
A woman counts money.
Market crowd. V.P.Astafyev narrates.
Poplar fluff is flying.
Poplar fluff is burning.
A middle-aged woman.
Dry grass is burning in a field.
A freight train with tanks.
Conversation between V.Ya.
Kurbatov and a writer.
A man is dancing in front of a kiosk, people are passing by.
Kiosk window.
Smoke over scorched earth.
Dry grass is burning. V.P.Astafyev.
Blooming sunflower.
Scarecrow in a field, it is raining.
Rain over the river.
Astafiev V.P. Kurbatov V.Ya.
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk Krai
Summer
A man with a rake is walking across a field, sunset.
A kettle over a fire. V.P. Astafyev recalls.
People's faces, sparks over a fire.
Burning logs. V.P. Astafyev.
A man is adding wood to a fire.
The moon in the sky. V.P. Astafyev.
A river at night, a ship's signal lights are lit. V.P. Astafyev.
A kettle over a fire.
The writer's interlocutors.
People by a fire, V.P. Astafyev recounts.
The moon.
Coals of a fire.
Dawn, tree branches over the water, reflections. V.P. Astafyev is driving a car.
A country rally.
View from the car window. V.P. Astafyev.
A fragment of a rally. V.P. Astafyev in the car, views of a village from the window.
Mountains along the banks of the river, clouds over the peaks.
A cup and a book on the table, the wind.
Astafiev V.P. Kurbatov V.Ya.
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Summer