Galina Umpelyova

The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (today's Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. After being hospitalised and then demobbed, he sets off home to join his wife, only to be caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rahimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rahimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah.Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town...

About the post-war years in a small town in the Urals, where fate brought the Kalmyk boy Jirgalu. He will soon have to face the hatred of war-bitten locals. Hungry times force the boy to look for money for food, not disdaining theft. But a friend appears, nicknamed Bee. Possessing the talent of a painter, Bee opens the world of beauty to her friend. But an early death cut short his existence on earth, leaving a permanent mark in Jirgala’s memory.

Let's part - while we're good, and no one betrayed me...