Odna plot
Jelena, a young teacher, is sent from Leningrad by order of the State. She has to go to the Altai Mountains on the border of Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Her mission was to found a school there for the illiterate shepherd people. She therefore reluctantly leaves for what seems to her to be the end of the world. Once there, she encounters much opposition from the local Bei, a kulak, a cattle dealer and the leader of the local Soviet. Yet she is soon admired by the shepherds, the young mothers and the children of the region. She barely survives her mission.