Selma and Sinan are a couple who now find it difficult to endure each other. At the end of high school, rumors start circulating about their son Umut, who is gay. While Selma and Sinan are trying to cope with their tiring marriage, Umut suddenly disappears.

A shell-shocked Afghanistan war hero named Ivan Skryabin (Mikhail Skryabin) spends his days stoking the fire in a giant coal furnace. When he isn’t tending the flames, he keeps busy with other activities. He works on a historical novel. His adult daughter Sasha (Aida Tumutova) comes to visit. Local kids come to gaze at the flames. Gangsters, including a former Army sergeant (Aleksandr Mosin) and a sniper known as Bison (Yuri Matveyev), drop by to add special kindling to the fire.