Stanitsa Dalnaya

A Finn preparing a work on the Russian hunting traditions and customs, comes to Russia to collect materials and is invited to take part in a hunting party. His flamboyant companions include an Army general, with more than a passing resemblance to Aleksander Lebed, a police detective, local forest ranger (a devotee of Zen Buddhism) and some big-city types from St. Petersburg. Inevitably, their good intentions soon give way to endless drinking, visits to local farm girls and much else besides.

Maksim Perepelitsa is a cheerful, mischievous and resourceful young man from a Ukrainian village. He loves to make up stories and invent practical jokes. When he is drafted into the Russian Army, he doesn't stop his antics.

Shurik, a kind but naïve ethnography student, falls in love with the intelligent, athletic and beautiful All-Union Leninist Young Communist League member Nina. He has a rival in the wealthy comrade Saakhov, who concocts a kidnapping scheme to force Nina to marry him.

General Ivolgin, forester Kuzmich, and good-natured Lyova lose their way on a fishing trip and wind up in a neighboring country, where they decide to have a good time anyway but end up leaving their vodka and fishing equipment behind.

Broke and depressed, Ray is mistaken for a dangerous hitman and given an envelope of cash. Along with his P.I. friend Skip, he must escape the actual hitman to make it out of LaRoy alive.