Elena is a student in Minsk. She is having an intense but self-destructive love affair with Viktor. When Elena's father goes to prison she has to take charge of his business dealings to help him. She drives repeatedly into the restricted zone at Chernobyl, behind the wheel of a truck, in order to smuggle contaminated steel. The conflicts with Viktor escalate, and Elena is increasingly captivated by the zone's deceptive beauty...

1986

In a small Belarusian village where time seems to stand still, Jasja must deal with her mother's death. She takes every duty upon herself to fill the void a mother has left behind. Someone must hold the pieces together. Still, her father decides to send her to an orphanage with the promise of returning. When he fails to show up, she decides to run away and go back home instead.