A 12-year-old boy from the isolated steppes in Kazakhstan has first encounter with the outside world when he is sent to a children's clinic with a treatable heart condition. It is here that he gets his first taste of the pain and pleasure of love when he falls for a kindly young nurse. His crush becomes a bit of an obsession, he spies on her frequently and experiences his first moments of sexual awakening. Also at the institution everyone speaks Russian and soon Jasulan will face exclusion in his own country.
A young major named Azamat, accustomed to a comfortable city life, by coincidence, is sent to work as an akim in a remote village.
Young Akbota goes to visit her grandmother in Alma Ata and brings her saplings of the sacred archie tree. On the way, she meets architect Murad, and then his wife, actress Sholpan...
