The film is based on the story of the Oval Sarcophagus with Dionysian scenes from the antique collection of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin. At various times, the owners of the sarcophagus were the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, the Italian Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, and finally, the Minister of Public Education of Russia, Count Sergei Uvarov, who purchased the sarcophagus for his "museum" in the Porechye estate near Moscow. The history of the sarcophagus is an occasion to reflect on the connection between epochs and cultures, the vicissitudes of fate, the mystery of life and death. Filming was carried out in various museums in Moscow, Rome, in the Porechye estate and the Hermitage.