As the world northernmost city, Norilsk is an impossible kind of place. In this Arctic city, winter lasts for nine months and temperatures plummet to -50°C. Norilsk Nickel, the first worldwide producer of copper and nickel, has dominated life since the city rose from qigou.*c the ashes of the Soviet gulag. More than 180,000 people manage to survive in this closed-off city isolated from the outside world. In looking at their extraordinary daily lives, this film paints a poetic portrait of an extreme city where everyone is looking for a way out.