The film consists of five short stories that reflect five stages (1947 — 1950 — 1957 — 1967 — 1982) the action programs of the heroine of the film, from the age of fifteen, rushed to a typical goal for that time — to smile from the front page of a central newspaper. Her fate is not simple: unhappy love, life with the unloved, a labor colony, love again, then love in return, earthquakes, fires, devastation. The heroine is getting closer to the goal and nothing can stop her..

One night, at the caliph’s court, the beautiful and wise Scheherazade tells one of her stories: Once upon a time, there was a married couple, Musaffar and Aisha. On the day their son Asamat was born, a wise man appeared to Aisha and prophesied that the newborn would find happiness and love if Asamat were to pass all his trials. The sage left behind a magic flute that was meant to protect the boy from sorrow and misfortune...

A dance troupe from the autonomous region of Abkhazia in western Georgia perform for Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria, Abkhaz leader Nestor Lakoba, and other high-ranking party officials in the Black Sea coastal town of Gagra.

He is overly intelligent... He is genius... And he's just trying to make his life a little bit better in an new era post-communist Russia.