In 1898-1902, a joint Russian-Swedish expedition carried out unique work on Spitsbergen to clarify the shape and size of the Earth. Expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society set off in the wake of this scientific feat in 2014 and 2016. Showing the dramatic moments of the confrontation of travelers with both the harsh Arctic nature and people both in the past and in the present, the film tells why, how and under what conditions a geodetic triangulation network was created for degree measurement in Svalbard and what remains of it today .