AllMovie

Based on a story by Anton Chekhov, this film by renowned director Sergei Bonderchuk (best known for his film War and Peace) basks in the vast and visually magnificent qualities of life on the steppes of southern Russia in the era before the Russian Revolution. The story revolves around the journey of a wagon train bearing materials from the countryside to the marketplace. Riding along with the wagon train in carriages are an Orthodox priest and a trader carrying his nephew into town to receive some schooling.