Svetlana, an overworked factory engineer, carefully saves money and plans a long-awaited solo vacation to Sochi. Just a week before departure, her husband Sergey suddenly demands she cancel the trip to help his mother with exhausting work at her summer cottage. He insists it is her “duty,” minimizing her need for rest and treating her vacation as unimportant.
Instead of arguing, Svetlana calmly packs her suitcase and leaves as planned. In Sochi, she finally rests—turning off her phone, enjoying the sea, excursions, good food, and freedom. Sergey’s attempts to guilt her fail.
After returning, Svetlana clearly sets boundaries: she calculates how much unpaid labor she has already done at her mother-in-law’s dacha and declares she will no longer sacrifice her vacations for it. Helping his mother is Sergey’s responsibility, not hers.
From then on, they spend vacations separately—he at the dacha, she traveling the country. Their marriage survives, but becomes distant and transactional. What Svetlana gains, however, is certainty: no one has the right to steal her rest, her time, or her life.
