Mefody, a wise master, comes to a weird village one day to teach local men wisdom and life. The strange thing about the village is all the men living there are of different nationalities: German, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Uzbek, Gypsy etc.. Mefodi teaches all them the way to understand each other, he speaks about music, cabala, fairy tales, sex etc. Finally all of them become even more friendly to each other and find success in life.

Ivan Khristoforov discovers the strange property of foreseeing explosions. Trying to understand the reason and meaning of this unusual ability, he turns to family history. The attention of the secret public service doesn't bode well for Khristoforov. The imaginary journey of the hero in his past, bearing the imprint of a children's worldview, and the present, at times just like a dream.

Фильм в 4-х частях с эпилогом на материале русской и советской киноклассики, иллюстрирующий авторское представление о понятии "Русская идея". Использованы материалы книги Н. Бердяева "Русская идея", отрывки из фильмов С. Эйзенштейна, А. Довженко, Д. Вертова, А. Роома, Б. Барнета, С. Юткевича, А. Тарковского и других режиссеров. Один из фильмов международного киноцикла, созданного под эгидой Британского киноинститута к 100-летию кино.