Director Roman Bondarchuk’s film, which premiered at the Berlinale, opens in the wild steppes of southern Ukraine, where a young nature researcher, Yura, is looking for an endangered species of groundhog, but instead witnesses a crime. Eager to expose the truth, Yura takes his photo evidence to the local newspaper’s editorial office. However, he quickly realises that nobody there cares about pursuing justice. While a big war is looming over the horizon, Yura’s naive worldview is splintering in a storm of fake news, rigged political elections, and mysterious cult rituals.