Twelve years ago Anya and Zhenya had a daughter, Nadya. They were very young, and their life soon became a problem. Zhenya ended up in jail, and Anya and Nadya ended up living with Zhenyas family. During the twelve years that have passed, Anya has done quite a lot of changes in her own and Nadya’s life, some of them involving Zhenya. The first time Zhenya went to jail – for beating Anya – he didn’t have to stay that long. But the second time he was sentenced to four years, for rape. During most of the twelve years Anya has worked with Zhenyas mother in their shoemaker’s workshop. Zhenyas father, a retired policeman, has come and gone in the shop, taken care of his granddaughter, but also had a relationship with Anya. When Sasha, Zhenya’s father, beats Anya and ends up in prison, Anya finally leaves Zhenyas family.

Nadia, an eighteen-year-old girl disappeared without a trace not having given any prior notice that she was going to do that. Her father, Svetozar goes in search of her without preconditions where he could find her. During that search he discovers the background of growing up in a big city and the world in which his daughter spends her time for which he himself had no idea that there was.

Heli's misfortune begins when her mother, the landlady, marries for the second time. The man is bossy and brutal. In an argument between stepfather and brother, Heli intervenes: She throws a hatchet, the stepfather falls and is killed.

On a bleak island where monolithic concrete buildings rise above the windswept horizon lies work-colony #191286. Piwonka is one of a handful of migrant workers who are forced to work here under harsh conditions. He has been estranged for two months from his beloved wife when a fatal incident at the main drilling-tower occurs. Piwonka has a recurring dream of his wife where it feels like she's trying to communicate with him, to warn him perhaps, or guide his way.