85-year-old Lyabiba doesn’t remember her father, who died in World War II. At that time, along with the death notice, some Soviet soldiers’ widows were given ‘consolation’ gingerbread cookies for their children. The only memory Lyabiba has of her father is the time she joyfully shouted to the entire village during the years of hunger: ‘My dad died, and we got gingerbread cookies!’
Lyabiba’s daughter and granddaughter (the film’s director) decide to find the mass grave in Poland where Lyabiba’s father was buried. The three generations of women journey from Kazakhstan to Poland. The women are not only searching for physical remains but also working to restore the lost connection between themselves. Along the way, they confront post-colonial Soviet traumas and search for a sense of home and lost identity, which many Kazakhs feel. They travel during a time when many Russians are leaving their country and relocating to Kazakhstan due to mobilization for the war in Ukraine
