A Moscow journalist is sent to prepare a report on the work of Santa Claus on New Year's Eve. Dressed in the suit and beard of the main New Year's wizard, he gets home to the boy Sasha, to whom he promises to fulfill his desire - to return his dad.
In the center of the plot children's writer Valentin Shubin, accustomed to live in seclusion. His books about the elephant Mishka, written in his youth, enjoyed great success both at home and abroad. A series of random events causes a new surge of interest in the personality and creativity of the writer-introvert. Adults and young readers waiting for new books, but Shubin them does not want to write.
União Soviética, 1984. A filha do líder do partido comunista local desapareceu sem deixar rastros ao sair de uma discoteca. Na mesma noite, é cometido um assassinato cruel na periferia da cidade. Ambos os casos são investigados pelo capitão da polícia local.
Strangers on a train. Late in 1916, a brave and idealistic Russian officer in his 20s comes to his superiors' attention when he stands up to Rasputin at a nightclub. He's asked to carry important papers from Petersburg to Stockholm by train in the dead of winter, a dangerous mission. The first-class carriage may be full of spies, and soon after the train embarks, the man in the next compartment searches Obozow's luggage. A beautiful stranger approaches him, a woman older than he, on a concert tour; a game of cat and mouse ensues with patriotism and emotion sometimes on opposite sides. Can Obozow consummate the affair, reach Stockholm, and maintain his ideals?
