In mid-1800s rural Russia, with his bride Olga only dead for several hours, a newlywed young photographer profoundly scarred by the endless suffering caused by this great loss, decides to resort to an unholy amalgam of science and witchcraft to perform an abominable ritual that would bring his beloved wife back from the realm of the dead inside a fresh, unspoilt new body. Centuries later, Efremov's Philology student Nastya with her newlywed husband Vanya who comes from a family of photographers, pay a visit to his relatives to have a wedding ceremony according to a family tradition. Instead, troubling, unwelcome manifestations fueled by the bleak, grim surroundings plague poor Nastya and make clearer and clearer that she has made a wrong decision. As the dreadful visions grow stronger and and her body grows weaker, with Vanya nowhere to be found, Nastya must solve the riddle that stems from the family's abysmal history. Will she live to see another day?
—Nick Riganas