When Miron's beloved wife Tanya passes away he asks his best friend Aist to help him assist in her burial according to the rituals of the Meryan people, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from West-Central Russia. The two men set out on a road trip across the boundless landscape, accompanied only by two small caged birds. Along the way Miron shares intimate memories of his conjugal life but as they reach the banks of the sacred lake where they will forever part with the body, he realizes he wasn't the only one in love with Tanya...