A feature-length documentary about the creative method of teaching acting by one of the oldest teachers of VGIK, Yuri Ilyashevsky. We become participants in the annual cycle of rehearsals for the play "Uncle Vanya" by A.P. Chekhov. Working with actors, the master plays a solo performance, reincarnating as each character in the play. The changing kaleidoscope of images suggests that Ilyashevsky is playing his own destiny.