A miserable and solitary man known as Houdini lives in a small Russian town where he transports illegal immigrants over the country's border. While his criminal activities provide him with a modest income, they also bring him into contact with a large number of people from varied backgrounds, and he is hoping that one of them may be able to tell him what happened to his wife and child who went missing when the local war had broken out after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Houdini does not discriminate between the criminals, refugees, vagrants and drifters he transports into Russia until he meets a little girl one day, who pricks his conscience. Although he knows nothing about her, he decides not to give her to her 'adoptive parents' to whom he is supposed to deliver her and instead, these two lonely souls find themselves alone and on the run.