In the 1990s, Finnish archaeology student Laura (Seidi Haarla) is abandoned by her secret lover at Moscow station and ultimately decides to carry on with their planned trip on her own. Boarding the train bound for the arctic port of Murmansk, she encounters her new companion for the trip: Vadim (Yuriy Borisov), a misogynistic, larger-than-life Russian miner on his way to start a new job.

Forced to share the tiny sleeping car for the long journey, Laura and Vadim quickly find themselves experiencing terrain that is rough in more ways that one. But as time passes, the ice between the two strangers eventually thaws and they discover an unexpected bond.

Vivid, engrossing and thoroughly rewarding, this Finnish drama was jointly awarded the Grand Prix jury prize (alongside Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero) at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.