The film was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

After the collectivization and arrest of the priest, people sought consolation and guidance from his father Orestes, whose grandfather seemed to be a character.

Dodoka goes in search of nurse Lyubov Karimova and encounters a wolf near the scene of the accident.

He is visited by fellow villager Stepan Shulika, who says that his father was arrested for finding a hiding place.

The couple is visited by the fortune-teller Steph, who predicts that Ivan will become the head of the collective farm and have twelve children, but only one son from Lyubov.

Ivan wins the Golden Star, becomes a Hero of the Soviet Union, and goes on increasingly dangerous flights.

He promises to find him if Love gives birth to a son, because Stepan's wife is barren.