After years spent studying at home, disabled Lena is keen to get back to school. The attitude of the teachers in charge of the special needs class, however, soon fills her with cruel disenchantment. Debut director Ivan I. Tverdovsky avoids embellishment to unfold an entirely credible drama portraying the unequal struggle of the individual in the face of institutional torpor, human prejudice and a society that tries to trip up people who are different.
