The book by the famous Russian film director Andrei Konchalovsky is the memoirs of a man of the most interesting fate. He grew up in the family of the author of the National Anthem of the USSR, Sergei Mikhalkov, who knew both the favor of the authorities and the disfavor of the bosses, who created honest, sincere films that were ahead of their time in totalitarian conditions - such as “The First Teacher”, “Sibiriyada”, “Romance of Lovers”, “ The story of Asya Klyachkina…”, he found the courage to go against the system, start his biography from scratch in Hollywood, and managed to make outstanding films there, which none of his Soviet colleagues had managed before. Konchalovsky talks with rare frankness about his famous family, about the stages of his growing up, about overcoming the fears and taboos that are natural for a person in a totalitarian country, about friends, about the women he loved, about the great artists and movie stars with whom his creative life brought him together. fate.