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Variety says of this film based on a story by Andrei Platonov: "[it] turns the classic boy-meets-tractor plot into stirring cinema." In it, a mechanically skilled boy transforms a useless old motorcycle into a much-needed irrigation pump, answering the drought-stricken Turkmenistan villagers' prayers briefly. This medium-length (38-minute) film was completed in 1968, but was shelved by the authorities for some reason. Larisa Shepitko, whose film Voskhozhdeniye (Ascent) won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1977, and a number of other awards at lesser festivals, was considered one of the most promising Soviet directors. She died in a car crash in 1979.