Alexandra travels south on a military train. She sits apart from the young soldiers. Surely each of the men deserves a hug from this proud Russian woman, but Alexandra is also surly and resists social niceties. At times she mumbles to herself. Her body is in pain, especially when the soldiers have to help her on and off the train and on and off the military vehicle that takes her from the train to the military base. She warns them not to mishandle her. Not only does she look out of place, she makes the soldiers look out of place too. The heat is stifling.

In the morning Alexandra is reunited with her handsome grandson, Denis. He is a captain. They embrace warmly—they have not seen each other for eight years. He takes her on a tour of the base. She studies every detail of the environment: she peers into tents to see the living conditions of the recruits; she stares into the eyes of the soldiers. Everything is dusty. The sunlight overexposes the landscape, which is in different shades of brown from beige to taupe to umber, contrasting with the military green of the tents and the camouflage of the uniforms. Alexandra enters a tank with her grandson. She comments upon the smell of it; her grandson explains it is the scent of human sweat mixed with stale metal. She finds the heat stifling. There is barely enough air to breathe. Denis shows her a Kalashnikov and Alexandra picks it up and points it. The rifle is remarkably easy to use and she understands in a second how effortlessly killing is in war. As she had suspected.

Alexandra disrespects the confines placed about her on the base. She insists on experiencing the setting of her grandson’s life without a tour guide and dismisses the soldier ordered to accompany her. She wanders over to the guards by the encampment’s entrance. In the distance, the land is enflamed—a battle perhaps, or the aftermath of an explosion, or maybe just a brush fire. She chats with the guards effortlessly, gives them food, complains about her aches and pains, and sleeps in an uncomfortable chair. The next day she walks off the base to do her own reconnaissance. She is on a mission to purchase cigarettes and sweets for the soldiers in the nearby town. Her determination conquers her weariness, though she can not help but mumble about her pain as she walks.

The town is wounded from battle. It aches. Yet the marketplace is active. Alexandra is stunned that a local youth refuses to do business with her because she is Russian, but quickly makes friends with a local woman near her own age who runs a stall. When Alexandra complains of fatigue—and of the heat–Malika takes Alexandra back to her apartment in a building that no longer has a façade. They sit and drink tea. Alexandra and Malika talk effortlessly and discuss the war. Malika expresses how small the Russian soldiers look and worries about the hollow look of the young Chechen men. Alexandra listens, her fatigue lessens.

A neighbor of Malika’s, a young man, accompanies Alexandra back to the base. He admits that he wishes to travel to St. Petersburg (as well as Mecca). He speaks also of wanting to be free and awaits her response. Surely he and his people deserves liberty but Alexandra is also surly. She rebukes him, arguing for intelligence over blind freedom-fighting. They part at the base. He lingers for a second, looking at Alexandra. He can no longer hate her because she is Russian and he looks less hollow, more filled in. At the gate of their encampment, he is out of place and turns to walk back to his town. Alexandra distributes the goods that Malika gave to her.

Alexandra complains to Denis’s commander. She informs him that he may know how to destroy but he does not know how to build. Later she shares her concerns with Denis. Why isn’t he married? What career awaits him? They argue – he tells her that he had to escape the harshness of family and used the army as his destination. Alexandra admits that even though her husband was cruel, she is lonely as a widow. She cries. Denis feels her sadness. He holds her. She relaxes into his comfort, her face at his chest, his arms around her. Their embrace is almost a caress.

Later Denis takes Alexandra’s hair out of its tight braid and in the morning he plaits her hair expertly, as if he were an artist not a soldier. His hands are strong, but also gentle. His devotion combats the pain in her body. A soldier spies on them through the folds of the tent, collecting information, witnessing a secret side of Denis. Perhaps this may be used against him. Or perhaps the soldier is also yearning for his own mother, his own grandmother. Or he craves gentleness from Denis, impossible to experience firsthand.

Denis and Alexandra part. He is going on a mission for five days and tells her she must leave. She walks into the Chechen town, knowing the shortcut from Malika’s neighbor and bids her newfound friends from the market adieu. They walk with her to the train and embrace warmly. Alexandra invites Malika to visit her in Russia. Malika realizes that Alexandra’s offer is genuine. She promises to come.

Alexandra is alone on the train. Her body aches. She worries about her grandson, her new friend. She worries about Russia, its soul, the time in front of her. The heat is stifling. There is barely enough air to breathe.