In the spring of 1990 Carlo Bondavalli, Mario Marchiori and Alexander Syssoyenko spend a few weeks with a Ciukci brigade, a population of nomads living in the polar regions of north-eastern Siberia. The film centres particularly on the uses and customs of the unusual population of which little is known in the west, as for decades the Soviets authorities would not grant permission to film the region.
The Ciukci are divided into two large communities: the Ciukci of the sea, who live by fishing on the coast of the arctic sea, and the Ciukci of the land who breed reindeer. The latter live in brigades consisting of a certain number of families.