At a dusty crossroads in the Soviet Union villagers surrender their possessions - a horse, a samovar, a goat - to the state. The train which takes them away brings to the village a physically and mentally handicapped woman, barely able to speak. She makes herself bracelets of burrs and studies herself in a cracked and cloudy mirror. Befriended by very few, teased and tormented by many she seeks protection at a huge portrait of Stalin.

After her husband's death, Hanna Szendroy, the former primadonna, is caught in the claws of the real estate mafia. She looses her lavish home and ends up homeless at the Keleti train station. When she returns to her house, now full of homeless people moved in by the real estate mafia, an unexpected relationship brings hope into her life again.

Eternal beauty and youth, who doesn't dream of that? For Julian, this dream becomes reality. But in contrast to his appearance, his image in an oil painting ages in a frightening way. On top of that, Julian is developing into a real monster.