Events unfold on the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), in the survey party and in the village of Kamushki, through which the highway is to pass.

Based on the play by Nikolai Klimontovich. A television performance by the Sovremennik Theatre. Despite the outward freedom of the composition, it forms something resembling a mystery, where a person's earthly life unfolds in direct connection with Higher Powers, represented here by the elder Zosima, and with the forces of Hell.