Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (1815 – 1894), Russian scientist of Baltic German and Estonian origin, organized a scientific expedition to Taymyr Peninsula, the Northern end of Eurasia in 1842-1845. Century and a half later a group of Estonian scientists took the same route. The filmmakers faced the crisp arctic tundra with thousands of birds and wild reindeers and met the native people whose forefathers once gave directions to Middendorff in order to reach the Arctic Ocean.

In the Footsteps of Middendorff

In 1982, a fire broke out in the Soviet Antarctic research station Vostok and destroyed the station's power plant. The expedition was left without light or heating right before the four-month long polar night set in, with an outside temperature of -70 °C. The men decided not to ask for help, because they knew that it was nowhere to be found. The Soviet Union was not a proponent of risk management; extreme situations demanded heroic acts. And the men didn't think twice. Still, a rift divided the crew into two opposing camps.