Plucked from an orphanage as a literal love slave, the now adult Natalija (a luminous Kseniya Kutepova) serves her ape-like husband by tending his prized cow—whose milk they sell to customers on passing trains. When hubby suddenly drops dead, however, Natalija’s narrow life of cows and rails finally starts opening up. Dumping his body at the local hospital, dropping by church to say a few prayers and trading in the cow for a pet goat, she slowly eliminates all trace of his former hold on her, searching out a new life in the freedom that emerges.
as Natalia
as Sergei
as Natalia's husband
as Olga
as nurse
as policeman
as security officer
as Gleb
as cook
as Grigori
as train conductor
as bride
as groom
as sexton
as merry-go-round operator
as cantor
as Father Pyotr
