Twelve-year-old Pavlukha lives on a fishing farm with his mother. His father left his family long ago, in which, apart from Paulukha, he has two other children. To help his mother somehow, the boy goes to town to earn money...

Based on L. Yelisieieva’s short story "Far Away". In the 1920s–30s, a girl named Liolia grows up in poverty after her father is killed in the so-called “Civil War.” Her mother’s new marriage brings fear and violence into the home, so Liolia is sent to live with her grandmother, where she finds peace—though only briefly.