In a small train station in the steppe, a worker has died, and the old Edige wants to pay his last respects according to ancient customs. As the small mourning caravan sets off through militarily secured territory, several rockets launch from a nearby cosmodrome. An interplanetary incident, concealed by both superpowers, unsettles Americans and Russians alike and threatens to plunge them back into the old conflict, which ends in global destruction. Aitmatov's novel remains a vision and a warning against technology that can no longer be controlled, extinguishing spirit, reason, and nature.