Why Wouldn’t We Send… a Messenger?

The film opens with Ivan’s farm on the brink of collapse as bailiffs seize his property after a failed loan. In a moment of despair he drowns the boiler from the sauna and threatens to blow up the house to stop the bank. He later learns that someone has set fire to one of his seized combines. He blames his alcoholic neighbor Kolya and, after a confrontation, ends up serving 15 days of administrative arrest for lynching.

After his sentence is served, Ivan decides to go to the president to talk about life. He leaves his village in a modest Zaporozhets and starts a road trip that glimpses the rough, chaotic life of 1990s Russia. The trip marks the beginning of a string of encounters that reveal the era’s social texture.

On the road, Ivan gives a lift to an old man who bought a coffin in the city. The old man explains that dying has become expensive and he is planning in advance for himself and his wife because, as he says, 'they live long.' The scene sets a tone of everyday hardship and practical pragmatism.

Ivan hears knocking from the trunk and discovers his friend Yakov, who is mentally ill and carries a homemade rifle with medals on his torn jacket. Yakov speaks in short, stock phrases and seems out of place in the road trip. The odd companionship begins to color the journey with unpredictable humor and tension.

Strangers dressed as policemen arrive and treat Ivan to beer, then threaten to file a report for drunk driving and bribery. They chase a Mercedes and shoot at it; Ivan helps rescue the well-dressed man, Alexey, who falls into the river. Alexey reveals he's a businessman and invites Ivan to Moscow, gives him a mobile phone, and asks him to visit in two days.

Ivan tries to send Yakov home by intercity bus, but Yakov bolts through the back door, and Ivan has to accept keeping him along. He scolds Yakov yet continues the journey with him. The road trip carries on with their unlikely companionship.

They meet two soldiers by a broken KAMAZ; one is AWOL, the other is Zaur, a young man of Caucasian nationality. The bride’s mother accuses Zaur of war crimes and vows not to let him marry, dismissing his past and clashing with the village’s prejudices. Ivan uses Alexey’s phone to call the unit commander and explain the situation so the soldier isn’t punished.

They visit Ivan’s brother-in-law; Nina returns from a Paris music competition with first prize money but chooses a harp over cash. The family holds a feast and an impromptu concert to raise funds to send Nina to Japan, since the conservatory cannot cover the trip. The moment blends family warmth with the improvisational charity of the era.

After the earlier encounter, the duo meets real policemen who mistake them for bandits. Yakov cocks his ‘rifle,’ Ivan protects him, and the police beat them before releasing them after an interrogation that reveals Yakov’s backstory and the bandits’ crimes. The interrogating officer, who has also lost a son, lets them go.

Ivan buys a car muffler from a roadside woman; he later learns cheaper mufflers are distributed as wages at a local factory. He tries to return the money but is moved by the mother’s story of her dead son, so he gives her extra money and keeps the muffler for himself. This moment deepens his sense of shared hardship.

A dump truck dumps bricks on the highway; the driver’s fiancée had delayed the wedding. Ivan brakes sharply and a black Volga crashes into his Zaporozhets. He meets cosmonaut Georgy Grechko, who helps repair the car and arranges a visit to Star City; a TV crew interviews the cosmonaut, leading Ivan to appear on Field of Miracles and pass a muffler to Yakov through Yakubovich.

On a Moscow street Ivan meets street children who earn money by washing car windows and takes a liking to Sasha, the youngest. He learns they are orphans living in a basement, led by a missing-one-legged boy, and he contemplates offering them a better life. The encounter shows a gentler, paternal instinct emerging in the journey.

Ivan tries to enter the Kremlin through Spassky Gate and is arrested, ending up in a psychiatric hospital. In the ward he meets three crazy people—one a Boris Yeltsin lookalike, another a self-styled director, and a silent, monotone man. He bangs the door, Yakov frees him by calling Alexey, and they end up at a striptease restaurant and a hotel with Vika; morning promises a presidential meeting.

A Presidential Administration employee informs that Yeltsin, who is abroad, has heard of the Kremlin attempt and will meet Ivan in 2–3 weeks when he returns to Moscow, with travel and accommodation provided by the state. The promise signals a possible redirection of Ivan’s quest for meaning.

Ivan leaves for his wife Lyuba’s birthday and ends up adopting Sasha, the homeless boy, before returning home with him and Yakov. The journey closes with a sense of renewal as he contemplates starting life 'from scratch' in his own village. The final act ties together themes of family, responsibility, and chance encounters.