[2] Also winner of the International Youth Jury's prize, the President of the Italian Senate's Gold Medal, and the UNICEF Award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival.

The film is about a young woman, Katya (Yekaterina Rednikova), and her 6-year-old son Sanya (Misha Philipchuk), who, in 1952, meet a veteran Soviet officer named Tolyan (Vladimir Mashkov).

Katya falls in love with Tolyan, who turns out to be a small time criminal, but who also becomes a father figure to Sanya.

Katya, a destitute widow, and her young son Sanya struggle to survive in the post-war Soviet Union from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.

Left alone, Sanya desperately awaits Tolyan's return, only to discover his true nature as a career criminal when he's arrested and imprisoned.