The Osipovs are a very ordinary family from Ulyanovsk. Father, mother and son. They are no different from thousands and thousands of other families, except that they are happy. They love each other. The sudden illness of the son drives through them with an asphalt roller. Parents are ready for anything, they lose their home, and sometimes their human form, trying to save their child. At some point, even the mother breaks down. But not the father. The most ordinary person. A provincial carpenter.
40-year-old provincial Natalya Nikitina has been living in St. Petersburg for the seventh year. She works as a nurse for ailing old people and endures their countless quirks and humiliations. Once in her life, a new friend appears - a masseuse named Love, who plunges Natalia into the abyss of bright and risky adventures in search of love and happiness.
This story unites the destinies of the landowners and their servants, and is considered to be one of the most complete portraits of the Russian life in the late XIX century. It takes place in Dry Valley, a village owned by the noble family of Khrushevs. The story tells about Natalia, a young and naive girl who serves in their country house. We see and experience her love, dedication to her masters, mysticism, exile, betrayal and faith, while the Dry Valley is falling to pieces, slowly but inevitably, as well as the lives of its inhabitants.
