Poem of the Sea 1958

General Ignat Fyodorchenko returns after many years to the places he holds dear, reflecting on the day he left his home village. Back then his mother and the collective farm chairman urged him to stay, but his youthful ambitions drew him somewhere else, and his classmates were soon leaving for cities to pursue education and work, chasing dreams of a brighter future.

His journey home takes him through Nova Kakhovka, a vibrant, developing city preparing for the launch of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. Upon arriving back in the village, he learns that the construction of the power plant has drained the local collective farm of its workforce, as nearly all recent school graduates have joined the grand project. To his surprise, others who left the village decades ago are returning as well. Among them are a celebrated architect Aristarkhov, a polar explorer, a pilot, a writer Pisatel, a deputy minister, and six colonels. Initially, they struggle to recognize one another, but emotions run high as they reunite in the village square.

The gathering of these former villagers is no coincidence. On the village square, the collective farm chairman, Savva Zarudnyy, announces somber news: the village, with its rich history, is living its final days. Located within the flood zone of the new reservoir, it will soon disappear beneath the waters when the station becomes operational. The whitewashed cottages, cherry orchards, club, school, and ancestral graves will be submerged, replaced by an artificial sea. Zarudnyy, determined to give the villagers one last chance to see their beloved home, sent out countless letters to summon those who once called this place home.