Kseniya is a 23-year-old Moscow-based pastry chef whose life becomes a delicate balance between a new romance and a family storm. As she threads together a budding relationship, her seven-year-old son, Artyom, clings to a vivid inner world to cope with the pain of his parents’ separation. In his imagination, he transforms into a superhero called Kosmoboy, pairing up with a robot named Edger Beroev to wage battles against a colossal, looming foe he calls Mrakovlast (the Darklord). The film orbits the clash between intimate longing and geopolitical crisis, showing how two very different kinds of battles unfold in parallel.
On August 5, 2008, a phone call from Zaur, Artyom’s Ossetian father who serves as a peacekeeper, asks Kseniya to send Artyom to live with his parents in Sidamonta, a village on the border between South Ossetia and Georgia. He promises safety, but Kseniya weighs the request against her own desire for a vacation in Sochi with her new banker partner. She agrees only if he will bring Artyom back whenever she asks. This decision sets in motion a chain of events that drags a personal drama into a widening conflict.
Two days later, Kseniya learns from the news that South Ossetia has become a battlefield. She rants at Yegor, her boyfriend, insisting on bringing Artyom back to Russia, while the two spar over more than just safety—public humiliation erupts when their private confrontation spills into the elevator and draws the attention of the city. Undeterred, she flies toward the conflict zone, first to Vladikavkaz and then through the Roki Tunnel into South Ossetia, where a bus is struck by an anti-tank missile. A Russian Army reconnaissance unit pulls survivors to safety, and their commander, Lyoha, escorts Kseniya to Tskhinvali as the city comes under brutal bombardment in the night.
When Kseniya reaches the Dzau refugee camp, she’s in motion to reunite with Artyom, who has been gravely affected by the chaos. She calls Zaur to coordinate evacuations, but tragedy strikes when Zaur’s parents are killed in shelling while Artyom is wounded and traumatized, wandering in shock. Desperate to save her son, Kseniya pushes forward, and her turmoil intensifies as Artyom, still distant, whispers that Mrakovlast was here and that he killed everyone. In a moment of raw vulnerability and resilience, Kseniya makes the choice to rescue Artyom herself, even as the boy’s mind sinks deeper into his fantasies.
Along the way, Kseniya joins Zaur’s ally, Ilya, in a Russian convoy accompanied by journalists. Ilya is killed during an ambush, and Kseniya is saved by Lyoha and his unit, who bring her to a base near where Artyom is hiding. On the march back, a Georgian tank damages the route, and Kseniya continues the perilous journey with Artyom, stealing a Georgian army Jeep and evading gunfire. A Sukhoi Su-25 air strike looms, and the two barely escape as the fighting swirls around them.
A pivotal moment comes when the couple is challenged by a Georgian soldier, Aleksandr Khoshabaev (portraying the named character Aleksandr Khoshabaev). He shows compassion and helps steer them toward the Russian front lines. Kseniya staggers up a hill to a line of Russian tanks, where the commander’s terse question—whether she speaks Russian—prevents a tragic misstep, and Kseniya and Artyom move on. Artyom receives treatment in a hospital, learning finally the fate of his father, while Kseniya and Artyom reunite with Lyoha. The Russians announce a crucial victory as they seize the city of Gori, signaling a turning point in the war, and Kseniya and Artyom are evacuated back to Russia by helicopter.
In the end, the film threads together two forms of endurance: Kseniya’s unwavering protection of her son and his stubborn insistence on clinging to a hopeful fantasy where Kosmoboy and a loyal companion robot confront an overwhelming threat. It is a story about crisis, motherly resolve, and the cost of survival when distant conflicts intrude upon intimate lives, leaving none unaffected but all compelled to press forward.
