In a small provincial town, a famous actress comes on tour, who once fled from here from the shame of unhappy love. Many years ago, she was forced to leave her illegitimate son to raise strangers. Therefore, when a talented and reckless young actor appears on the way of a now rich and famous woman, she certainly wants to help him. The actress begins to take an active part in the fate of the young man.
The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" (Inna Tchourikova) has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel (depicted Viktor Rakov as an adult, Sacha Chichonok as a boy). After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers.
The mayor of a village sees her son killed in a gun accident. A successful, dedicated bureuacrat, she must reconcile her desire to build a bridge - and the new housing that will come with it - with the reality of resistance from the townspeople and her own grief.
A self-pitying but popular playwright drives to Vladimir to relax with a doting female student and another writer. He's convinced his writing is of no lasting value, but he still has an ego, about his work and his masculine appeal. He's drawn to a museum guide he sees on his first afternoon.
A philosophical and poetic portrait of the famous (or maybe infamous?) Baron Munchhausen. His crazy, yet very merriment, stories, views and behavior is what sets him apart from others. He becomes alienated from the society that failed to grasp his brilliance. In fact, his brilliance is what underlines the faults with the society itself. It's a beautiful yet tragic story that is filled with dense and intellectual dialogue.
Former criminal Sergei meets Vera - an elderly unhappy woman who lives in a dormitory. After Sergei commits another crime, they run together and along the way they accidentally get into a zone contaminated by radiation. Sergei decides to stay there, but Vera does not leave him. At that moment three looters come to the territory.
A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of baba Yaga in the amateur theatre - and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.
The film is based on the story of Anatoly Kurchatkin "House of Women". A tragicomedy about four women of three generations who lives in a tiny Moscow apartment: a sick grandmother, constantly requiring attention; a mother, very peculiar woman, who still hoping to somehow arrange her personal life; and two daughters, each of whom has a lot of problems.