The film tells about the life and work of Sergei Parajanov. On December 15, 1973, the master was supposed to leave for Yerevan to begin work on a film based on Andersen's fairy tales. It is unknown why, but he changed his mind and left for Kyiv the same day. Two days later, on December 17, Parajanov was arrested in the Ukrainian capital. Orpheus Descending is a story about the years the director spent in prison. But - not only that. The author tries to penetrate into the secrets of the master's spiritual world, speaking about the sources from which he drew