Tetiana Krulikovska

Immortalised as one of the most scintillating and uplifting Christmas songs, 'Carol of the Bells' adapted from a popular and loved Ukrainian folk melody, came to represent the spirit of brotherhood and unity all over the world. The peaceful and neighbourly existence of three families, Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish, sharing a large house, musical evenings and merriment in the city of Stanislaviv in the years preceding and post war, is shattered. First in the Soviet occupation and the persecution of the Polish family, then, by the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, and the decimation of the Jewish family. Sacrificing their lives the Ukrainian family manage to save their neighbours' children and their own daughter. Death and loss come to these families, but the healing power and joy , and a promise that the Future Will Not be Cancelled which "Carol of the Bells' evokes will be everlasting.

By chance, on Christmas Eve, completely different passengers with their own problems and dreams board the same train, and now they all have to arrange Christmas dinner right in the dining car. While waiting for the first star, all the passengers come together as one big Ukrainian family. And miracles begin to happen.

Anna has just taken on a mortgage in dreams of a better life with her daughter Katia. Instead, a turn of events makes Anna face a dilemma that will change her personal moral borders in a society that hasn't got any.