About the title
As a child, Nika Turbina toured the Soviet Union with her mother, reciting her poems: packed stadiums of poetry lovers, bohemian parties, meetings with celebrities. An 8-year-old prodigy, she astonished everyone with the unchildlike sadness and poignancy of her lines... Now Nika is 27. The USSR is gone, along with her childhood and fame, and — hardest of all — her inspiration. Nika no longer writes poetry and is trying to understand herself: where did her "voice" go, why doesn't she feel her mother's love anymore, and will she ever be happy like everyone else? Meeting the cheerful and independent Ivan gives Nika hope for that happiness and restores her forgotten inspiration.