1996. A journalist from a regional newspaper arrives in a northern settlement to write about the mysterious disappearance of a schoolgirl—and discovers a whole world of its own: with its global grudges, world wars, and fairy tales that are anything but peaceful. Here, in real Russia, everything is turned inside out: words thicken the air like an apple, houses catch fire from dreams, and the killed rise from flames to take revenge on their offenders. A newsroom assignment turns into a hunt, and the newspaperman himself no longer knows whether he is the criminal, the victim, or a storyteller.