An ordinary working class boy, like all his peers, he played football day and night and dreamed of being a striker. But no matter which team he played for - in the yard, at the factory, or in the army - he was inevitably put in goal.

Elderly Aleksandra visits her Russian soldier grandson, Denis, at the Chechen war front, providing comfort as she tours his army. All the while, Denis ponders the reason for her unexpected appearance.

A mining town in Russia at the end of the nineties. A miners' strike has paralysed the place, corruption and fraud are flourishing in the transitional period from a socialist economy to a market economy. In this world of lost souls lives Yekaterina Artemovna (Katya). This unconspicuous woman has, in the words of her future lover, a "heart of gold". The only bright spots in her lonely life in a meagre communal apartment are literature and her work in the town library. The only bright ray flashed in the life of the heroine is a visiting sailor. But he turns out to be a gigolo and leaves the poor woman. The tense string inside the heroine bursts, the iron nerves lose, and restrained Yekaterina at this point loses all patience with life and ready for the most desperate and cruel revenge...

On the edge of Dushanbe, in the Republic of Tajikistan, a quiet border checkpoint under Russian control is attacked by Afghans and Tajiks who want it under their control.

Tells about the events of November 1945 when the first Post War championship of the USSR winners, Dynamo-Moscow, went on the historic tour of Britain. Soviet football players won not only on the football fields of England. They managed to win the hearts of the English audience, transforming the view created by the Western press and propaganda about the Russian people and the Soviet country.

In a large family, after a trip to the store, another child suddenly appears. He speaks an incomprehensible language and does not know where he came from. But in a family where there is love, this is not important. Gradually, from an undesirable burden, he turns into a beloved family member and returns peace and happiness to the main characters, Sena and Lida.

Prokhor is a roulette player. His life becomes uncertain after debt collectors knock on his door.