One day the landlord Smirnov demands the widow Popova to pay an old debt which her husband left. She has no money at home and begs Smirnov to wait. The polite conversation turns quickly into an argument. Popova fetches the pistols. Smirnov realizes now that he’s in love with Popova. He confesses his love.
A grandfather tells his grandson about the events of 1942 that he experienced as a child.
A boy searching for answers to crucial issues finds himself in a strange place inhabited by Meanings, The Higher Tier, a superstructure above the world masterminding everything below. The guide he met there tends to get to some place called Wellspring to "readjust" or make it right for people below to end their suffering. On their way they meet various characters wandering around The Tier in their search for Meanings. The boy becomes an object of confrontation for struggling powers and gains knowledge about events the world is about to experience. In spite of haven’t been mentioned directly, this film is about Russia. It's about the abyss this meaningless, ideology deprived country goes down into, about the forthcoming catastrophe of Russian Federation and the last planetary project to be implemented upon its ruins, taking its turn instead of obsolete Communism and Liberalism.
Exercise in death - look at the terrible face of a father. To hear his hoarseness is the preparation for death.
