Anna Odinzowa, an ethnographer from Leningrad, has been studying the Chukchi language and culture for years. Now, in February 1947, she wants to closely experience the unexplored life of the nomads in the tundra. She marries Tanat, the son of the last shaman, and moves with his tribe into the tundra. Far from civilization, she learns to live according to the ancient laws of nature. Then she receives the great honor of being deemed worthy by Rinto, the old shaman, to become his successor.