5 years after the Chornobyl tragedy, the film’s crew of “Ukrkinokhronika” studio visits scientific and medical institutions located within a 30 kilometer radius from the Chornobyl station. The authors of the film speak with researchers who study the effects of radiation on live organisms. Photographs that depict the effect of “radioactive ash” are shown to the viewers – plants with anomalous development, the bodies of animals and humans with disturbing birth defects. Interviews with the scientists are mixed with aerial post-apocalyptical footage of silent cities, dark windows of abandoned buildings, deserted military equipment. The only place where life continues in the same rhythm is the church. Bells and songs sound as before, along with the crackle of the Geiger counter, drawing attention to that which is invisible to the eye. The film is shot in 1991, a decisive year in which patriotic exaltation and a desire to part ways with the USSR were the dominant moods. It becomes evident that it is impossible to say goodbye to some things from the past.