The movie is based on Zakhar Prilepin's autobiographical novella "The Forest". The story focuses on the father and son who spend every summer in the village of Isttsy, where they raft down the local Istya River. They have done so for several years, but this time things go astray: a harmless adventure turns into a real disaster. Much later the grown-up son remembers his father through the lens of the past years.