
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