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This Russian adventure drama tells of 19th-century explorers in the Arctic region who go in search of a valley where a legendary lost community lives. Some of them are looking for gold. The last report of this paradisiacal community was from the explorer Sannikov, almost 400 years before. After a number of adventures, they discover the legendary warm land they seek. Their presence is resisted by the people's shaman. When one of the explorers, in his greed for gold, accidentally sets off an avalanche, it alters the climate of the region, and it begins to freeze, soon to be lost forever. This film is based on the book by a famed scientist and explorer, Nikolai Obruchev, and was very popular in Russia at the time of its release; its two songs became hits. This subsequently became a cult film, and two of the actors who appear in it, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky and Oleg Dal, died young and became cult figures in their own right.