Gulmira Tursunbaeva

It is a rainy day in the far-distant 1960s. A lone taxi stands outside a telephone booth at the bus station in the city of Frunze, waiting for passengers. The taxi pulls out only when full or if someone pays for the entire car. Everyone who approaches the taxi tries to place a call to a loved one, and thus we learn different stories. One passenger, Zoja, is escaping to her parents’ house, fleeing her husband who is cheating on her with a friend of hers. Two passengers who are in transit are debating about a classmate, Muhtar and his wife Mahabat – will he recognize them, welcome them into his house as late-night guests. The discussion blossoms into a true drama. The taxi driver makes a call home, too, to say good-bye to his wife and ask what to bring his newborn son from far-off Osh. During the night, we learn about the tragedies and joys of the passengers and phone booth users.

An amnesiac old man Zarlyk who after twenty-three years of ordeal in a foreign land, returns to his homeland. Events take place in a village in Kyrgyzstan, where he is brought by his matured son Kubat. Much has changed during his absence: the morals of the villagers, mired in the realities of a changing world, radicalization of Islam, growing crime, and moral corrosive corruption began to consume... Zarlyk’s wife Umsunai, having lost hope of his return, went into religion, married the local authority Jaichy. The bright past invades the already accustomed Umsunai’s life. But nothing touches Zarlyk. An inexplicable passion for collecting garbage replaced him everything. Will the memory return to him and will Umsunai gain lost happiness when they are pressed by tight attitudes and immorality of the clergy, when love has eclipsed recklessness?

Suyun, the beloved, youngest daughter of the Sultanbekova family, mysteriously goes missing one afternoon. A devastating phone call reveals that she has been kidnapped by an unknown man to be his sudden bride. As Suyun is driven further away from her family’s grasp, the Sultanbekovs must now face against all odds—come trial or shame—to bring her back.