A palimpsest is written material from which the original writing has been removed and replaced by something new. Enough of a trace can be left of the removed writing that it can still be read. Gustav Spet was an important philosopher, whose entire oeuvre was deleted by Stalin’s regime of terror. He was exiled, then executed in Tomsk in 1937. His death was kept a secret, and his family only learnt the truth in 1989.
Using the help of Marina, Spet’s 92-year-old daughter, the film is an attempt to provide a partial re-reading of Spet and a Russian reality that was obliterated.