A series of fateful events, including the reactor accident in Chernobyl, make Kateryna homeless. But she is persistent, like many generations of Ukrainians, and rebuilds her home from the rubble. The story of Kateryna's difficult journey through life is metaphorically a story of Ukraine's history and its people's ability to create life out of rubble - of a Ukraine that has been destroyed and rebuilt again and again - which is also reflected in a folk tradition called “Toloka”. The poet Taras Shevchenko's ballad gave the director inspiration for the film.