A short, nostalgic novel by Alexander Ilichevsky, one of the major contemporary authors writing in Russian, winner of the Russian Booker and Big Book Prizes. It is a journey into the past undertaken by several old friends, rafting on the smooth surface of a wide river. During this short but emotionally intense journey unhealed resentments resurface and skeletons reappear from closets. The wounds of youth are so exposed that only old friendships can heal them. Or can they? Filled with dialogues, Ilichevsky's story is a frozen cast of the past, which is never serene. And no one will leave offended. Or rather, no one will leave.