Yulia, her husband, and her daughter, Halynka, are residents of Pripyat in Ukraine, the location of the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster begins the day before Halynka's first birthday, but the family and friends that have gathered for the party are not aware of what is brewing behind closed doors. They are not alerted to evacuate the city until two days after the explosion. A decade later, the area around the reactor is closed off, with guards and a border to keep unauthorized people out. Despite the danger, Yulia's mother chooses to return to the site, intent on dying in the place she was born. Yulia visits her mother sporadically, trying to convince her of the danger and to move back with them, but she won't hear it because she only believes what she can see. An American scientist named George is surveying the area to test for radiation, amazed that people are living in the area. The radiation from the disaster leads to the death of Halynka's best friend, Viktoria. Yulia feels guilty for this at times, certain that the birthday party is what exposed her to such radiation, and fearful that Halynka will suffer the same fate. Halynka wants desperately to see her grandmother again, at least to hear her, still unconvinced about the danger that the radiation poses, despite Viktoria's death. Yulia won't let her visit and can't convince her of the danger, so she gets George to explain it to her more thoroughly than she could. Upon her next visit to her mother, Yulia finds that even her mother has become convinced of the danger due to George, though she still won't move. George has a camera that can show radiation, which finally lets the grandma see the radiation that endangers her. George also lets Yulia borrow a tape recorder so that her mother can record messages to Halynka, and they can share correspondence that way. Finally, Yulia forces herself to tour the city her daughter was born in, knowing how she wants to see it again, despite her own fears of seeing all that she had to leave behind in a panic.