Based on a novel by French author Pierre Chenault, this film criticizes how Mongolian nature is deteriorating in this society, as a rich man who sold his country's land and became rich dies, and his daughter and son-in-law fail to inherit his inheritance.

Ulzii, a teenager from a poor neighborhood in Ulaanbaatar, is determined to win a sciences-physics competition to get a scholarship. His illiterate mother finds a job in the countryside, leaving him and his brother and sister in the middle of winter. Ulzii wanders around at night looking for things to burn for heat while preparing for the national competition.