No social, economic, political or philosophical problems can be solved until we have solved the problem of death, said the Russian librarian and philosopher Nikolai Fjodorov. In this documentary Fjodorov's life and ideas are put in context with a society characterized by revolutionary currents and the tsarist regime's brutal exercise of power.

Conversation between filmmaker Beate Petersen and Adam Buono Glazer afterwards, where they will also draw some lines to the current situation.