The Edge

Siberia, 1946. The war is over, but much time will pass before the world can return to its old rhythms. In a small settlement on the edge of the boundless Siberian forest, people live in total isolation. The Soviet state has sent to this place the people who came into contact with the Germans during the War - they cannot be trusted. So they are put to work in the middle of nowhere, at a timber plant, under the command of a hard-headed, one-armed colonel. The only link with the rest of the world is an aging steam engine that brings new directives for the colonel, and modest rations of food for the camp, before carrying back countless tons of logs. Ignat (Vladimir Mashkov "The Thief"), a former front-line soldier, rides the same train to come here, to the edge of the world. He fought all the way to Berlin, and now his provocative manner stirs up more than just the men in the camp: suddenly, passions begin to boil over. Sofia, the village belle, is trying to survive together with her disabled son, in the depths of camp life. Like all the other women, she performs hard labor, handling raw timber. Her link with the train driver Stepan at least gives her the right to live in a room of her own. But all of this is put at risk when she falls head-over-heels in love with the charismatic Ignat. Ignat, who is a passionate enthusiast for anything related to the railroad, hears the story of the "slumbering steam-train" and sets off to find it. He finds more than just an engine - he also determines that the forest spirit is none other than Elsa (Anjorka Strechel), the daughter of a German engineer, who has hidden in the engine for years. Ignat and Elsa have nothing in common; they are light years apart in terms of language, nationality and education. But they are ultimately brought together by a shared, passionate connection to the railroad: the desire to breathe new life into rusty "Gustav" and to rejoin life - life beyond the Siberian wilderness - together with the restored steam engine. This becomes their shared goal.