- The Chernobyl explosion in 1986 changed their lives forever - After the tragedy, stories of joy and pain, love and separation revive from the ashes of a tragedy.
- In 1986 Chornobyl. Lera, a graduate of the pedagogical institute, gets a job placement as a junior-school teacher in Prypyat, one of the coziest and well-maintained towns of the Soviet Union. Arriving at the bus station she discovers that her wallet was stolen. She doesn't have any money, even to send a telegram to her parents or rent an apartment. A casual acquaintance comes to her rescue. Handsome 25-year-old lieutenant Ihor is the dreamboat for every girl in town. He arranges everything. Lera will stay at his friends' for a while. She meets her new best friend Svitlana. Ihor actively seeks Lera's affection. One day Lera is visited by her parents. Ihor makes the best impression on them. They see a promising, caring man, a true stone wall to make their daughter happy. But Lera's heart is silent still. At a party Lera meets the love of her life, nuclear engineer Vitas, who is in Chornobyl on a business trip. Incredibly handsome, blue-eyed stately blond, talented not only in his important job but as a singer, guitar player, and dancer as well. True feelings kindle between them. The events that took place in April 1986 (explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant) irrevocably changed the heroes' lives. The viewers will be able to see the 30-year-old tragedy through the eyes of our heroine who lives today: how much joy and pain, love and separation she has been through.
- 1986. LERA (23, a graduate of the pedagogical institute) is on the bus to Pripyat. She is admiring the beautiful landscapes, a carefree summertime song is playing on the radio. From Lera's conversation with a woman next seat, we learn that Lera is hoping to become a junior school teacher, but more importantly - to begin an independent life. Even in her student years she lived with her parents and now she craves freedom. The woman next seat tells Lera that she got very lucky with her placement - Pripyat is one of the coziest and well maintained towns of the Soviet Union. At the bus station, IHOR (25, lieutenant) is meeting the arrivals. He cheerfully picks up Lera's suitcase and says he will be happy to work alongside such a beauty. Lera is puzzled. It turns out Ihor mistook her for someone else. He came from his military unit to meet the new specialist who turns out to be a shapeless mustached woman following Lera. The woman unceremoniously set everything straight and orders Ihor to load her numerous bags into the military UAZ car. Lera laughs and leaves. Ihor follows her with a look full of regret and admiration. At the post office, Lera dips a worn pen into a sloppy inkwell and writes her parents a telegram: "Arrived settled well kisses Lera". She leaves her luggage at the table and gets into line to send the telegram. At this moment, someone steals her handbag and walks out. The telegrapher accepts the telegram, welcomes Lera in town and names the fee. Lera realizes she doesn't have her wallet with her. Then she sees her handbag is gone and panics. She is left without any money or documents in a strange town. Now she won't be able to even check into the dormitory. Lera leaves the post office, sits on her suitcase and weeps. Ihor notices this from the window of the passing UAZ. He orders the soldier at the wheel to stop the car and take the new specialist to the military unit, then gets off and rushes to Lera. After learning about the cause of Lera's tears, he asks her to not go anywhere and disappears. Lera pulls herself together, finds a mirror in her suitcase and refreshes her makeup. Ihor reappears out of thin air and reports in a strict military manner but not without manly charm. He says that he sent the telegram to Lera's parents, asked the street cleaner to look out for her belongings - most probably the thief will have taken just the money and thrown away her handbag and documents - and made an arrangement with his friends who will be glad to immediately lease Lera a room. Also there is no need to worry about the money. Ihor assured them that Lera would pay from her first salary. Now Lera is weeping with happiness. Like a kind wizard, Ihor sorted everything out. Lera meets Ihor's good friends and neighbors Svitlana and Anton, who is an engineer at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. They're a married couple leasing a room in their apartment. Later Svitlana and Lera become best friends. Raised in an orphanage, Svitlana helps Lera deal with the difficulties at her job and helps find understanding with the problematic 7th grade she is assigned to teach instead of the first-graders she expected. Ihor keeps eagerly courting Lera. He is absolutely confident that in the nearest future Lera will become his wife. When Lera's parents come to visit Ihor makes the best impression on them. He is a promising and caring young man, a true stone wall, behind which their daughter will be happy. YURIY PAVLOVYCH (47, a tough man, commander at a fire station), Lera's father is especially fond of Ihor. He sees in Ihor himself as a young man. Lera admits to Svitlana that she is doubtful that Ihor is the one for her. Of course he loves her, he is reliable, a true man, but... she doesn't love him. Svitlana being big with child looks at the situation from a different point of view - she sees Ihor as a breadwinner who will make a perfect father in the future. Ihor boasts to his mates that he will "train" Lera to be an ideal wife. He is very satisfied with Lera's chaste behavior and they haven't had sex yet - that's how ideal wife is supposed to behave. Ihor satisfies his needs with his old girlfriends not forgetting to take care that Lera doesn't find this out. At Anton's birthday, Lera notices VITAS (25, nuclear engineer). He is looking at her dancing beautifully with Ihor, then comes up and says a few words in Lithuanian. Lera is surprised and confused. Vitas apologizes and explains that he was certain Lera was a Lithuanian because such enigmatic blondes could be found only in his native country. Ihor laughs it off and invites Lera to dance again, but Vitas can't keep his eyes off her anymore. He takes a guitar and Anton immediately turns off the music. Ihor is displeased, but Anton explains that Vitas has a unique talent and everyone should hear his songs. Vitas sings a Russian romance. All girls are melted by his intonations and the accent. But Vitas is looking only at Lera, he is singing for her. Ihor doesn't like this at all. When the applause dies down he takes over the guitar and sings a three-chord amateur army song, but his performance is not particularly successful. Vitas begins courting Lera. This drives Ihor crazy, but he is confident that his assertiveness and troubleshooting skills will prevail. Besides his inquiry revealed that Vitas is here on a long business trip which is almost over. Vitas has truly fallen in love. He started frequenting Anton's home and "accidentally" bumping into Lera in the kitchen. He offers assistance in holding a singer-songwriter evening at school. He tells a lot of interesting things about Lithuania. Ihor keeps up with him. Contending for Lera's heart he settles different economic matters for the school, obtains hard-to-get reagents (Lera is a chemistry teacher), avalanches Lera with flowers and stuffed toys, comes up with unusual ideas for the dates. One day Lera notices Vitas' unusual watch. He ponders for a few seconds and then tells Lera its story. This watch had belonged to Vitas' grandfather and then to his father. He preserved it even throughout his time in camp, where he was imprisoned for active participation in the Forest Brothers movement. Before his death, he passed the watch on to Vitas, just as Vitas will pass it on to his son. Lera is shocked that Vitas revealed this to her. Doesn't he understand that as soon as the information about the Forest Brothers becomes known to anyone he will be discharged, since nuclear power engineering is closely guarded by the KGB? By sharing this information with Lera, he entrusted his fate to her. Vitas says that he is not afraid because he trusts Lera more than he trusts himself. He kisses her. She momentarily freezes and then passionately kisses him back. They accidentally drop a vase with a huge bouquet from Ihor. This sobers Lera. She looks around and sees that the whole room is filled with flowers and presents. She says that first she must break up with Ihor. The breakup goes hard. Ihor loses his temper and blames Vitas for everything in the world. He tries to "open Lera's eyes" that Vitas is just toying with her and in a week he will simply be gone, he will run back to his Liftland... Lera asks Ihor to forgive her. She is very grateful to him, he is a wonderful person and has done so much for her, but she doesn't love him. Ihor finds consolation in one of his girlfriends' arms who believes that now he will choose her. But Ihor is not planning to give up, it's not in his character. Vitas and Lera meet up after her breakup with Ihor. The conversation stalls, they speak trivialities. It seems everything is ruined, the moment is gone, but Lera decides to act. She says that she doesn't want to think about the past or the future. Vitas understands what she means, kisses her, and they make love. Lera says that she has long been ready for love, her soul has matured, but she hasn't had a real man around. Now she is prepared to do anything. Even if Vitas' business trip will end and they will never... Vitas stops her - he is not leaving. He has extended the trip for a while, and if it will be needed, he will transfer to Chornobyl nuclear power plant - anything to be near Lera. He understands that all this may sound strange, too abrupt, but he proposes to Lera. At this moment, they hear a distant explosion and see glowing on the horizon. Svitlana knocks on the door. She apologizes for disturbance and asks Vitas to find Anton who is on shift right now. Vitas leaves, Lera stays to calm down her pregnant friend. Vitas takes a taxi to the power plant. He sees fire trucks and ambulances speeding past them. Arriving at the place Vitas quickly assesses the situation and calls Svitlana. He orders her to leave the town immediately, every minute counts. Svitlana refuses by all means. She begs Vitas to find Anton. Vitas starts helping to fight the fire and discovers that Anton was among the first to die during the explosion. Vitas helps in the work of the headquarters for fire containment. Moscow orders to quench with huge amounts of water not only the fire but also the reactor itself. Everyone understands that this must not be done because the radiation will seep through the groundwater into the Dnieper and an ecological disaster will be imminent. Moscow insists because it is unknown what processes are taking place in the reactor, so it is better to cool it down with all available means. Vitas volunteers to go to the biggest danger zone. He enters the epicenter of the explosion. On return he reports that everything is quiet. Now the heads of the HQ have the arguments to refuse Moscow and save the situation. Vitas receives a big dose of radiation. Grateful for his deed the chief of staff orders to evacuate Vitas first and ensure his treatment. During the evacuation, Vitas runs into Ihor and asks him to pass Lera a note with his contact information because Lera doesn't even know his last name. Ihor takes the note, hesitates for a minute, as if making up his mind, then says that Lera died in a car accident during the evacuation. Yuriy Pavlovych receives an order to move out to Chornobyl at full strength. On alert, all crews assemble. Yuriy Pavlovych clearly understands the gravity of the situation and personally orders the youngest crewmen to stay in Kyiv - "you've got long lives ahead." Then he sits in the leading car and the convoy sets off for Chornobyl. The young firemen watch their comrades go without realizing that their commander has just saved their lives. From all the stress, Svitlana goes into premature labor. The maternity hospital is closed for renovation, so Lera takes her to the municipal hospital. The wounded and the dead are being brought there as well. Svitlana recognizes Anton in one of the bodies and faints. The doctors take her to the operating room at once and determine difficult delivery aggravated by heart attack. Svitlana dies immediately after giving birth to her daughter. With her last breath, she asks Lera to name the girl Dasha (Anton wanted this) and raise her. Lera spends all her time trying to find Vitas but fails. All-out evacuation begins. Lera comes home to get her documents and finds Vitas' watch on the nightstand. He took it off before their only night of love. Shocked by everything that happened, exhausted Lera returns to Kyiv with tiny Dasha in her arms only to learn that her father and his fire brigade have been fighting the fire in the power plant for the last few days. Lera realizes that he is doomed... Stressed out she gives up hope that any of her friends or family who are still in Chornobyl will survive. Lera finds strength in her mother, the same seemingly fragile and defenseless woman as herself, who demonstrates incredible fortitude and wisdom. She manages to keep up her spirits even at the bedside of her dying husband, Lera's father, who also got heavily irradiated. One more reason for Lera to stay alive is Dasha and the promise to Svitlana to raise her daughter happy. Ihor, unharmed, returns from the disaster zone. He brings Lera the news that Vitas left Chornobyl on the first day. He doesn't say a word about Vitas' letter to her with his address. He also does not mention that he told Vitas about Lera's death. Ihor makes Vitas' departure look as a cowardly escape. Lera discovers that she is pregnant with Vitas' baby. Two feelings struggle within her. On the one hand she is immensely happy, on the other hand, she is worried about the health of the baby. Rumors about the effects of the radiation spread the city. The mothers exposed to radiation are predicted to give birth to ill freaks. Her friends and relatives in Kyiv try to convince Lera to have an abortion. Lera doesn't leave her attempts to find Vitas, but all her inquiries are ignored. There is a terrible confusion right now in the zone, no one has time to deal with the search. Then she asks her father to help her. Through his channels, he receives horrible news that shocks everyone including Ihor who planned to deceive Lera. Vitas has died in an air crash - the plane crashed during takeoff killing everyone on board. Meticulous Ihor cannot leave this information unproved. He calls the number written in Vitas' note to Lera. To his surprise, Vitas himself picks up the phone. It turns out that because of the way the Lithuanians write the names in the documents there was a mistake. It was Vitas' brother who died. Ihor proposes to Lera. She is shocked. Is Ihor really willing to take her, pregnant with Vitas' baby who might even turn out to be a two-headed mutant? Ihor says that he is ready to do anything for Lera. Even Lera's lethally ill father asks Lera to accept, but Lera says no. To her, the love for Vitas is the only love, the one love of her life. Ihor doesn't tell Lera that Vitas is alive. In a waiting room full of frightened women Lera is in line to have an abortion. She is anxious too, she's nervously grasping Vitas' watch. The tired nurse shows Lera to the manipulation room. Lera hesitates. The nurse calls out her last name again from inside the room. Lera starts, kisses Vitas' watch - "I'm sorry..." Lera decisively enters the room.
2014. In a TV studio dressing room, a makeup artist is finishing making up VITAS (29, Lera and Vitas' son, a chef at a fashionable restaurant). He says thanks, puts on Vitas' watch and goes to the studio. On the set, a show about Chornobyl is being made. Lera is the main guest. She is beautiful as before, but now she is a mature, strong, confident woman. She writes and publishes books on teaching. Lera shares her experience, tells about the present and the future, the problems of the Chornobyl disaster fighters. There's not a trace left of the shy, modest girl. Special attention is given to the matter of children of Chornobyl. Lera tells about all the fears she had to suffer and how she nearly decided to have and abortion but ran away from the doctor's chair at the last moment. She presents her son and her daughter Dasha. From the wings, a man is watching Lera. It is hard to believe, but that is Ihor (he is one of the guests of the show). Unlike Lera the years have been harsh to him. Little has left of the strapping handsome man, however, his ambitiousness and self-confidence has brought its fruits. Ihor has a highly successful career. After retiring from the military service, he became a businessman. Suddenly someone calls out to him by name. Ihor turns around and doesn't believe his eyes. The man in front of him is Vitas. He is glad to see Ihor, he asks something, but Ihor is absent-minded, he is constantly peeking at Lera. Ihor collects his thoughts and invites Vitas to continue their conversation at the restaurant, but at that moment Vitas recognizes Lera. He looks at her mesmerized. Ihor is expecting a fight, a brawl, but Vitas turns around and leaves. In the hotel room, Vitas' wife JADWIGA (55 years old) is waiting for him. She is surprised Vitas got free so early. He tells her they are leaving immediately. Jadwiga demands explanations and pries out of Vitas the story of his old love and Ihor's deceit which drove him apart with his beloved. Jadwiga advises him to return to the studio and at least talk to Lera, but Vitas is determined. They leave immediately. Vitas Jr's stepsister DASHA (Svitlana's daughter) is secretly in love with him. She doesn't know that Lera is not her real mother (at first Lera decided to hold back the truth so as not to traumatize the child, and then she just couldn't bring herself to tell the truth considering Dasha's highly vulnerable and delicate character). Dasha is ashamed of her feelings considering them to be unnatural. Seeing Lera stirs forgotten feelings in Ihor. He begins courting Lera very carefully, pretending to be "a friend of the family". Lera gladly accepts Ihor's attention, she's been long yearning for relations. Ihor is certain that this time he will conquer Lera once and for all. Vitas is overwhelmed, without his wife's knowledge he seeks information about Lera, searches her on social websites. But Jadwiga understands everything, she sees how their relationship has changed. They didn't have children together. Jadwiga has a daughter, Elsa from her first marriage who is currently pregnant, so Jadwiga is preparing to become a grandmother. The subject of children is painful to Vitas. The Chornobyl disaster left him infertile. The news that Lera has a son becomes the last drop. He calculates the pregnancy period and realizes that it is his son. And the resemblance is indubitable. Ihor is determined to marry Lera, he tries to enter her life as much as possible. After considerable efforts, he buys out the shares of the restaurant where Vitas works and becomes the co-owner. He explains to Lera that no one will be able to fire Vitas Jr now. Ihor proposes to Lera but gets turned down. Lera values his friendship but still loves Vitas. This becomes a heavy blow for Ihor and he freaks out, he yells "Your Vitas is alive and well, but he didn't even want to talk with you!" Lera is astounded "Vitas is alive?!" She tells Ihor to go away. Ihor goes to his restaurant and drowns his sorrow in alcohol. He calls Vitas Jr and cries on his shoulder. Vitas Jr comforts Ihor and offers to take him home. On the way home Ihor drunk out of his mind demands Vitas Jr to take him to Lera. Vitas Jr refuses, Ihor grabs the wheel, and the car swerves into the oncoming lane and hits a truck. Ihor dies instantly and Vitas Jr ends up in the hospital with severe injuries. During the examination, it turns out that only marrow transplant operation can save him. Lera is in despair. Analysis indicates that her marrow is not suitable for her son. Either father or relatives on his side can help. This becomes a problem for Lera. She cannot understand why Vitas hadn't even talked to her back in the studio. Dasha offers to help her brother, Lera stops her without telling the truth, but Dasha doesn't listen to her. She goes to the hospital and does tests, which reveal that Vitas and Dasha are completely unrelated people. On the one hand this settles Dasha's problem - she can count on Vitas Jr's love without hesitation. On the other hand Lera, her mother or more precisely the woman who calls herself her mother, has been deceiving her for all these years by hiding the truth. Why? And what kind of truth is that? Who are Dasha's real parents? The girl is shaken, bewildered and hurt. Lera understands how Dasha feels but asks her to concentrate on helping Vitas Jr at the moment. Dasha makes a post on social networks asking for help, describes the situation Vitas Jr got into. Vitas, who is following every post by the people connected to Lera, decides to fly to Kyiv right away. He informs Jadwiga about his decision. Jadwiga makes a special dinner. Vitas asks about the occasion for it and Jadwiga explains that it is their last meal together and that from now on Vitas has to be near his son and the woman he has loved all his life. Vitas tries to object, but Jadwiga asks him to go. She consoles Vitas that Elsa is about to give birth to her granddaughter and they will be happy. This is a dinner for the people who are very close and who understand that their former life is not possible anymore. In Kyiv, Vitas goes to the hospital to donate marrow for his son. Every day the doctors are struggling over Vitas Jr's life. Feelings rekindle between Vitas Snr and Lera and they get carried away in a passionate romance. Lera feels guilty. She doesn't want to ruin the family of the person she loves, but at the same time she cannot help it - her feelings for Vitas are too strong. Vitas reveals that Jadwiga let him go and now there is nothing in the way of Lera and Vitas' love. Lera is happy. She asks Dasha not to repeat her fate and to be happy in the relationship with her beloved. Dasha confesses that her beloved is Vitas Jr. For many years, she has been afraid of this because she thought he was her brother. Lera believes that Dasha should try and tell Vitas Jr about her feelings. Dasha comes to Vitas Jr. He is happy to see her because she hasn't visited him since leaving home. Vitas Jr says that after the operation he could not stop thinking that since they are not siblings... It turns out that Vitas Jr has long been in love with Dasha but suppressed this feeling. He looked for girls who looked like Dasha and was jealous of her boyfriends. Dasha cries with joy. Dasha and Vitas Jr's wedding. Everyone is happy. Vitas Snr makes a toast in honor of the newlyweds and then asks Lera to give him an answer - will she marry him? Back then in 1986 Lera didn't have time to respond to his proposal because of the explosion in the nuclear plant. Now Lera says "Yes".
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