In a nostalgic Moscow of 1976, an unlucky actor meets a charismatic writer, a living classic of Soviet literature, who turns his life into a tragicomic farce with the artistic bohemia, foreign-currency prostitutes, the KGB staff and agents of the CIA.

Somewhere deep, deep in Russia there is a town called Marks (named after Karl Marks, founder of Communism theory) where all people are working on toy factory and receiving their wages as toys. News from other cities are arriving on very rare occasion. One morning, Boris, a former boxing who is running from something, wakes up in train and see four letters MAR_S. From his first steps he starts to meet new people as Gregori, young man with a dream who is in love with local librarian, Greta, whose dream is to get out from this god-forgotten town. With each new step, he is meeting new people, but the past is hard to escape