In a small Kyrgyzstan village the teenage Begaim waits for her husband to return. He has left their marriage to work illegally in Russia. She is heavily pregnant, and lives with his grandmother, Napisa, who treats her as a servant. While the husband sends money, he has stopped phoning Begaim. Begaim is faced with betrayal by an absent husband, a cruel grandmother, and a life for her child with little hope. The story is set against the startling mountain landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, next to the lake, but with the humble dwellings and courtyards of the village providing a visual metaphor for the contradictions of post Soviet Central Asia.