In Soviet Moscow, brothers Chuk and Gek Seriogins live with their mother while their father is away in Siberian taiga for geological research. As the New Year closes in, Mr. Seriogin, longing to see his wife and children, sends a telegram asking them to come over. After making a very long and eventful train journey and a two-day journey through taiga on a horse sled, they arrive to find that their father and his team of geological researchers are not at the base.