For some a forgotten paradise, for others a prison without opportunities. The island of Ostrov in the Caspian Sea is home to a community of distinctive characters, whose everyday lives play out in a strangely limited world and often also on the edge of the law.

The inhabitants of the island of Ostrov, forgotten by the Russian authorities, have grown accustomed to living without basic infrastructure or emergency medical care, though with an almost constant presence of security forces. The coastguard comes to inspect illegal fishing, which is a crucial source of livelihood for the locals. While young people dream of living overseas and working in the city, the older natives have accepted Ostrov and all it entails as their home. In their loneliness, they often turn to alcohol, but also to the hope of a better and brighter world that exists somewhere, fuelled by TV reports about the almighty President Putin. Ostrov can be read as a metaphor for contemporary Russia, which in recent years has been ideologically isolated from the world. This film shows how propaganda works in this isolation, and how it psychologically prepares ordinary people for the real war that we are witnessing now.