Young Altyn eagerly leaves pastoral life behind for the modern comforts of the capital, but soon finds a corrupted society clashing with the values of her ancestors when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy. Mine development, melting glaciers and the loss of tradition are prominent symptoms of the current transformation of Kyrgyzstan, a country not often represented on the big screen.

At a time when most females in Asia possess little or no power over their lives, headstrong Kurmanjan Datka defies her family's authority -- and ultimately becomes the ruler of her native Kyrgyzstan region.

The hardships of modern life for one of the families, unhappy in its own way and at the same time recognizable to others. A husband and wife are fighting and drinking, their eldest son lives on his parents-in-law's money, the middle daughter is a prostitute, and only the youngest daughter, confined to a wheelchair, mute, is watching it.