Plot Summary

The story of the old Russians began in the XVI century, when the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, supported by the Czar, imposed religious reforms in Russia. Those who have refused to obey were brutally persecuted and forced to seek refuge in Siberia or in faraway places. Many hidden in Europe, and some of them settled down in China, Japan, America and Australia. The Russian Old Believers Community that settled down in Romania is one of the most numerous. The film explores the extraordinary power of this community to preserve their language, customs and religion, finding in their faith in God the source of strength to resist. This film tries to render the patriarchal air of the medieval Russia, from which these people came.