A 'runaway' homeless man, once a renowned athlete, finds himself marooned in the small, snow-covered town of Zarechensk. Victor lands a job at an orphanage, where he soon meets a young teacher who becomes both a compassionate friend and the love of his life. However, fate doesn't play out simply as good or bad; it unfolds in a way that makes the hero realize one cannot run away from oneself. Consequently, it is in Zarechensk that a train carrying a film crew from the capital, on their way back to Moscow, is compelled to delay their journey for a few days. Remarkably, Zarechensk becomes the place where a director finally discovers the perfect actress for his leading role and encounters a man who has fled from her love. Meanwhile, a producer makes the ultimate decision to select this town as the filming location for her upcoming movie.
1917, shortly after the assassination of Grigory Rasputin. The provisional government appoints investigator Heinrich Ivanovich Svitten to study the case of the deceased and find out who he really was for others and for the whole of Russia. Switten collects information bit by bit about the ambiguous elder, but sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish the truth from human speculation. Rasputin's confidants and even members of the royal family help him in the investigation, but everyone has a personal attitude towards this mysterious man. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, on the one hand, respects him immensely, and on the other hand, Switten notices something similar to fear.
The film takes place in two conditional "worlds" separated by symbolic gates. The first world is modernity, the 21st century, where life is in full swing. The second world is a kind of "magical" space of a fairy tale with all its inherent attributes – luxurious palaces, amazing clothes, harems, intrigues and wizards.
An epic family saga set in the Russian Urals before, during and after the Second World War. The story is centered on the Morozov family - Aleksey, Stepan, Aliona and Varvara - two brothers and two sisters, with a multitude of complex relationships between them. Miraculously, they all survive the slaughter of World War 2, but not without learning some important lessons on the way, including the meaning of true love, that overcomes all hurdles and heals all wounds, and how to cope with grief, leading them ultimately to a long dreamed-of happiness.