Prokopiy, a 27-year-old man with developmental disabilities, lives with his strict mother, Maria, who keeps him locked away for his own ‘safety’. In a remote Yakut village, life goes on as usual until Prokopiy’s cheerful sister, Ayina, arrives at the neighbouring house. She offers him warmth, attention and a sense of ‘normality’; a simple, pure friendship blossoms between them, which proves to be a revelation for the young man. Ayina leads him out of his locked room, takes him to a festival on a sledge and, for the first time, makes him feel part of the outside world. But the closer Prokopiy gets to freedom, the more often he clashes with his mother, who fears losing control and may not be able to protect her son from the pain that society might inflict upon him. A touching, stark and poetic story about the coming of age of a young man who has stepped out of the safe, confined world into an ambiguous freedom.
