Masha is a girl from the outskirts of the city. She has to provide for her family, which consists of an alcoholic father, a younger preschool brother and a disabled grandmother. She works part-time at an economy class beauty parlor as a nail technician and sometimes performs as a go-go dancer at a local bar, owned by her boyfriend, whose biggest dream is to escape the poor and depressing provincial city that they live in. He works hard, often gets frustrated, and lets out all stress on Masha.
Thinking that she caught a minor cold, Masha does not pay attention to the chronic, painful cough that haunts her, until one day all of a sudden she has a pulmonary edema seizure and has to have a surgery urgently. Doctors diagnose her with a severe heart condition. paradise for Masha. She finds friends among patients and even members of the medical staff seem like close relatives to her.
But what really matters is the sensational erotic feeling towards the doctor, who performed the surgery on her and, consequently, saved her life - Matvey Sergeevich.
Masha confuses the erotic shift, which happened due to his professional care and role of a savior, with true love.
Matvey Sergeevich himself is going through a painful crisis in personal life regarding relations with his wife and daughter. He develops compassion and tenderness over Masha’s emotional, delicate and vulnerable personality.
This attraction results in him violating the medical ethics code and engaging in a sexual relationship with Masha.
Their affair becomes a fresh and a bright experience for him, however following his wife’s and daughter’s return Matvey Sergeevich feels a moral obligation to his family, which forces him to choose them over Masha.
To her, their relationship means everything and becomes a significant life and sexual experience. Matvey Sergeevich becomes a parental figure to her and she trusts him completely.
He becomes her world. He becomes her illusion.
He breaks off their relationship. She tracks him down at the porch of his house and discovers he has a family.
This discovery is unbearable for her.
The emotional pain is so strong that she cannot cope with it.
She stops taking the post-surgery medicine, which causes her sudden death.
It is an average morning at the hospital for Matvey Sergeevich , until colleagues inform him about the death of a patient, on whom he performed surgery two months ago.
She was found dying of pulmonary edema at a winter field. Death occurred
in an ambulance.