A historical fate brought two great states face to face on the Amur—Russia and China; two great peoples—and from then on they went side by side, closely, like two neighbors along the endless road of life. There were disagreements between them, even quarrels and clashes; there was mutual help and oaths of eternal friendship—everything, as happens among neighbors. And the inhabitants of these countries, willingly or unwillingly, repeated and continue to repeat in their lives those relations.
The stories of two families, two clans—the Russian Cossack Sayapin and the Chinese shoemaker Wang Xiuming—like in a mirror, reflect this thorny path together: here there is room for love and hate, and sometimes it’s unclear what is stronger and where these mutual feelings will lead.