Elena Gruk-Chernova

A Scratch on a Biscuit

A 'runaway' homeless man, once a renowned athlete, finds himself marooned in the small, snow-covered town of Zarechensk. Victor lands a job at an orphanage, where he soon meets a young teacher who becomes both a compassionate friend and the love of his life. However, fate doesn't play out simply as good or bad; it unfolds in a way that makes the hero realize one cannot run away from oneself. Consequently, it is in Zarechensk that a train carrying a film crew from the capital, on their way back to Moscow, is compelled to delay their journey for a few days. Remarkably, Zarechensk becomes the place where a director finally discovers the perfect actress for his leading role and encounters a man who has fled from her love. Meanwhile, a producer makes the ultimate decision to select this town as the filming location for her upcoming movie.

A story of three estranged sisters, Irina, Olga, and Maria, who are brought back together following their father’s death to run his car service business. It was their father that had driven them apart, but now they must resolve their issues in order to manage a team of forty men in a business they barely know or understand. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the sisters are very unlike. Irina is a self-made businesswoman from Moscow, Olga is an airy and impractical literature teacher from a small town and Maria is a hairdresser from Saratov, who dreams of earning a lot of money but is forced to live with her alcoholic husband.

Stories of real people who either suspect someone close to them of treason, deception or even a crime, or are themselves under suspicion. The characters are trying to climb out of the abyss of life circumstances, but there is only one way: to stop lying.