Private Kolya Ivanov (Yevgeny Mironov) had spent seven years as a POW in Afghanistan. He was on his way to be executed when a local peasant who'd just lost a son bought him out and took him in. Kolya returns to his native village as a Moslem in the highest sense of the word. But he meets with no understanding on the part of his family and neighbors, who are antagonistic to his new faith and strange customs. Kolya himself discovers that he was unprepared for the changes in his village: with newly resurrected free enterprise, the townsfolk have become materialistic and the town fathers are corrupt. In the story's climax, Kolya confronts a murderous stranger who has come to settle an old score. The film's ending is tragic, but not hopeless: there is a path to the Light, and some find it. Yevgeny Mironov's work in the film was considered his best until The Idiot in 2003, failing to be nominated for national awards because of the film's controversial subject matter.

Yevgeny Mironov's recognition for the film:

• Best Actor, Film Critics' Award, 1995
• Order of the Spiritual Administration of the Russian Moslems, 1995
• Special Golden Minbar Prize of the Moslem Film Festival in Kazan, 2007