A film about the remarkable life of Russian mathematician Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), the first woman to become a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Sofia Kovalevskaya's life was full of complex and dramatic twists and turns. These included a fictitious marriage that allowed her to obtain a higher education abroad; a period when she and her husband embarked on a commercial venture; and, finally, her breakup with him. The film's drama is built on the fact that Sofia Kovalevskaya's grown-up daughter, Fufa, several years after her mother's death, tries to understand who she was not only as a mathematician and public figure, but also simply as a person.

Strategical factory should be evacuated. The movie shows how destinies of those working on the factory and their families are being broken. And yet - they have no choice, but to live.

The life and work of the great Russian composer Dmitriy Shostakovich is presented in this documentary through rare images and audios from many archives, at one time censored by the Soviet government. A brief take on his life, from his transition as an early prodigy to a first rate artist, his celebrated compositions and the final years with a declining health.