A wooded suburban area. A decade there. Then the year. Seven distant friends. A missing woman. Who? Who not? Where? Where not? The train station square with the tree where the birds sleep. The travelers' bar. The seasons. The mushrooms. The migrant workers. The neighbors. The crickets. Wars, volcanic eruptions, hot springs. A stonemason from the Middle Ages. A petty prophet. The child named Vladimir. The fable of the noisemaker who is stoned by the natives. The blue Russian church at the edge of the forest. And then the reunion celebration with friends on a cold winter night just before the new year.