本片改编自俄国知名科幻作家斯特鲁加茨基兄弟的同名小说，讲述了在鬼镇中一所寄宿制学校里发生的故事。学校中的老师阿奎特斯似乎是个怪胎外星人。这座城市猛然大雨倾盆，如同圣经中的大洪水时代，气氛变得相当诡异。无数调查团聚集此地来调查这一奇特的气象事件。一位作家维克多也前来参与研究，而他的女儿就在这所学校中就读。维克多的这场战役不仅关系到他女儿和其他学生的存亡，更关乎人性的挣扎。

Reviewers found this somewhat surreal film so visually stunning as to be worth watching even when it was not clear to them what was going on. In the story, Jozef Schrevek is a man with unusual powers which he wishes to pass on to his son before his death, which is coming soon. Unfortunately, his son is much more interested in boozing and womanizing and being a well-known habitué of nightclubs, than in taking his father seriously and receiving his powers and the responsibilities which come along with them. The tension between the two escalates when a young woman enters their lives.

In 1950, long after the world has finished fighting World War II, a fight continues behind the newly drawn Iron Curtain: as the Ukrainians keep fighting both Nazi and Soviet abuses, General Roman Shukhevych (Hryhoriy Hladiy) is forced by brutal circumstances and his own sense of honor and duty to lead this effort as an underground war. As portrayed by the film, Shukhevych is a genteel family man who is also a complex character (revolted by ethnic discrimination, a music lover and a military genius) that with his charisma fuels his countrymen with desire for freedom. In the end, Shukhevych's efforts are unable to defeat the Soviets despite paying for his resistance with his life, but they re-enforce Ukrainian patriotism as an underground force until Ukraine finally recovers its freedom from Soviet tyranny.