Plot: A widowed aeronautics engineer, who has lost his job, travels with his son hopping freight trains from Moscow to Koktebel, a town by the Black Sea, to start a new life with the father's sister. After they are stopped by a train guard, they continue their travel on foot. The father battles against his alcohol addiction and the son is fascinated with the idea of flight. One rainy day an old man accepts them in his house in return for the repair of the roof. The father gives in to the alcohol offered by the old man, who in a drunken brawl accuses him of stealing money and shoots him. A young female village doctor takes care of him and a romantic relationship between the two ensues. The father feels reluctant to continue the journey. The son leaves alone and a truck driver gives him a ride to Koktebel. However, his aunt has left for the summer.
Alternative Plot: After a widowed father (Igor Csernyevics) is fired from his engineering job due to his alcoholism, he and his 11-year-old son (Gleb Puskepalis) set out from their Moscow home on foot, jumping trains and hitching rides towards the Crimean coast. On the way, they barter a stay at the rural shack of a cantankerous recluse, Mikhail (Vladimir Kucherenko), but the father is shot in a drunken argument. He stays on with a tender nurse (Agrippina Steklova), and the son heads off by himself.
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