A full-length documentary portrait follows the fate of the artist Anatoly Belkin, the events and personalities that formed his character. Together with the protagonist we see what elements, stories and ideas make up the "Petersburg myth". We dive into the history of unofficial art and learn about the famous exhibitions of nonconformist artists in Leningrad and Moscow. We will see how the legendary artist, before our eyes, comes up with and implements large-scale projects-statements in modern realities.

This is not just a portrait film with immersion in the world and life of the artist, but also a study of his works throughout his entire creative path to the present day. On the screen, we see how Belkin's language changed in different periods, what ideas and meanings the artist manifests in his works.

The central event of the film is the unique filming of the artist's preparation for the exhibition "Carpaccio. High Water" in the Hermitage. It is no coincidence that the exhibition of one work is dedicated to the flood in Venice. For objective reasons, the project didn't took place in 2020, but that was for its best. This is how Anatoly Belkin himself sees the philosophy of "High Water": "I, a Leningrad boy who lived his whole life with the Neva, had a feeling of the fragility and vulnerability of art before the irresistible force of a dark, gray-cold mass capable of absorbing the greatest achievements of the human genius. Today, the question of culture's resistance to the elements, the degree of its resilience to cataclysms is the most important question of survival. Because art is the most powerful dam that will protect all of us, people who are like people, again and again."