The main action of Chingiz Aitmatov's novel "When the Mountains Fall (The Eternal Bride)" takes place high in the Tien Shan mountains, where the tragic paths of two suffering creatures - a man and a leopard - intersect. Both of them are victims of time, victims of circumstances, hostages of their own fate. The desire for revenge brings Arsen Samanchin, a famous journalist, to his native village, where a hunt for snow leopards is organized for Saudi oil magnates... Arsen arrives in the mountains, not yet knowing that he will meet his last one here. love, and perhaps death. The entire dramatic narrative is permeated by the legend of the Eternal Bride, who appears in a miraculous vision on a snowy mountain pass...