About the book: 2022 / Khrushchev's Thaw. The Shteflov family, in search of a better life, travels with a train of migrants to develop virgin lands. On the tenth day of the journey, grief happens: Pavlinka and Ales’s mother disappears. They get off the train in the hope of calling for help, finding it and continuing on their way. Contrary to the children's expectations, Siberian Lesogorsk becomes their new home. Late 90s. Tempered by the difficult military and then “peaceful” life, Ales Shteflov returns to the places of his childhood. “I’ll meet my old age calmly,” he explains to his fellow traveler. But is this what a wounded soul is looking for in the taiga hinterland??