1919, Russian Civil War. Siberia was united under the rule of the White Guard General Kolchak. Unwilling to recognize his power, 32 common villages from the Yenisei province declare themselves the independent Soviet Badja Republic. The Badja guerrillas, led by the hero of the WWI Pyotr Shchetinkin, quickly become a serious enemy for the White Guard.

In the 1880s, the Tuvan arats rebelled against the enslaving noyons. The uprising was brutally suppressed. With ethnographic accuracy, the film recreates the patriarchal life of the Tuvans, their morals and customs.

In the 1880s, the Tuvan arats rebelled against the enslaving noyons. The uprising was brutally suppressed. With ethnographic accuracy, the film recreates the patriarchal life of the Tuvans, their morals and customs.

This story is told by academician S. Yuryshev, Director of the Institute of applied biochemistry. The events in it are developing in 20 years during the Civil war, when he sent a geologist searching for copper in the coal mines of the merchant Stasova, and in the 70s, when the head of the Institute. His thoughts and actions as if he reconciles his past, revolutionary romanticism 20-h his life's work was the discovery of a new chemical element. He believes in getting it even when the explosion in the laboratory takes the life of his closest friend and colleague, when his grown-up adopted son, becoming also a chemist, suffered during the experiments. Believe when testing on military ground again fail…

1919, Russian Civil War. Siberia was united under the rule of the White Guard General Kolchak. Unwilling to recognize his power, 32 common villages from the Yenisei province declare themselves the independent Soviet Badja Republic. The Badja guerrillas, led by the hero of the WWI Pyotr Shchetinkin, quickly become a serious enemy for the White Guard.