Two years after the accident at the Chornobyl station, people visit their old homes in the contaminated zone, but their allocated time for memorial services is brief – only a few hours. In the villages, the visitors meet “self-settlers” – mostly elderly people who illegally returned to live in the “zone” and reportedly feel no worse than their guests. The settlers organize improvised festivities with the optimistic belief that people will return to their homes and the abandoned land will be bountiful once more. The film easily combines the canonic 9th of May demonstration, local memorial traditions and criticism of the “glasnost” era government. Murat Mamedov once more gives voice to elderly women, as in his 1987 film “Early on Sunday”, which won numerous awards. The expressive monologues and cinematic portraits of his subjects are edited and presented utterly without director commentary.