Natalya Volchek

It wasn't easy for Anna Timofeevna to leave the village and its people when her son, fearing for his mother's health, persuaded her to move to the city. Here, trying to help the family as much as she can, she waits for her beloved grandson to return from the army, but still feels herself an outsider.

The hero of this lyrical and optimistic story, former front-line soldier Shodi Makhmadaliev, has worked as a shepherd for many years. He loves his work. Yet life, surprisingly, is not easy even here in the степь. And when things grow especially heavy on the old soldier’s heart, he turns to the memories of his wartime years and holds on to hope—for something better, something worthy of the memory of his friends who never returned from the front…

A story about Yurka, a seven year old boy, who lives with his parents in a state border guards station.

The story begins in the spring of 1989, in the provincial town of Kasimov. Nina Golubeva graduates from school with a medal and dreams of becoming a fashion designer. The first serious love turns into a difficult ordeal – the guy leaves the girl pregnant. At the beginning of the "dashing 90s" Nina moves to inhospitable Moscow and learns to rely only on herself. She will have both recognition and success ahead of her, but happiness and true love will have to go a difficult way.