Once again, a story about people who break the mold, defy stereotypes about the provinces, and live contrary to the rules of modern megacities.

Valentina Chebkina. She's 54 years old, and she's a professional village builder and stove maker. While the outside world considers heavy construction work exclusively a man's job, Valentina single-handedly pours foundations, assembles log cabins, climbs roofs with a chainsaw, and builds complex heating stoves. Because she received specialized training and earned a stove-making certificate. Stern village men and former construction workers eagerly volunteer to work for her: they carry bricks, mix mortar, and respectfully call her "Master."

Having earned money from complex projects in Moscow, Valentina stubbornly returns to her small homeland—the Vologda village of Orlovo, 1,000 km from the capital. There are no shops here, and in the fall, the pontoon bridge over the northern Yug River is removed, cutting off residents from the outside world until the ice sets in. In winter, Valentina is often left completely alone in the village, but she stubbornly repeats, "For me, there's freedom and independence here. I need to do everything myself so I don't have to depend on circumstances."

You'd think that wouldn't be the case in the modern world. But Valentina has proven that character and loyalty to one's roots are stronger than any stereotype. We spent several days with her on-site to show the inside story of her work and the nuances of her everyday life.

And instead of standard computer graphics, we use something not typically used in documentaries—original paper animation, shot frame-by-frame at home. Our cartoons will tell you how "Dutch" and "Swedish" stoves differ from traditional Russian stoves, how Peter the Great banned the use of black stoves in huts, why a mast-built fleet for Arkhangelsk was built near Veliky Ustyug, and how the history of the Oryol parish became intertwined with the father of the writer Varlam Shalamov.

00:00 — Orlovo Village: How to Stay Absolutely Alone Beyond the Yug River in Winter
00:53 — THEY DON'T DO IT THAT WAY: How an Independent Documentary Film Was Glued Together with Paper Cartoons
02:00 — Stove-Maker, Not Stove-Maker: Why Valentina Nikolaevna Is Against Feminitives
03:11 — Meeting the Owner: Why Denis Needs a "Swedish" Stove-House
05:03 — Black Heating and the Decrees of Peter the Great: How the Russian Stove Changed (Cartoon)
05:44 — Dutch Ovens and Utermark's Steel Skin: The Evolution of Heat in Izbas (Cartoon)
07:23 — Men as Handymen: How a Former Builder Helps a Woman on a Project
08:35 — "Clay and Brick Must Love Each Other": The Secrets of the Ideal Mortar
09:49 — How Denis's Broken Skepticism and the emergence of the word "Master"
11:20 — Dry brickwork using patterns: why it's necessary to examine each brick in detail
11:59 — Without a trowel from grandma: how Valentina built her first stove without money
12:14 — Model school of stove making of the Russian Empire from 1904 (Cartoon)
14:05 — Physics and chemistry in practice: how military men were surprised by a woman in training
15:11 — Heat economics: why a new stove in the village has become a luxury
16:46 — Life without stores: how a removed pontoon crossing cuts people off from the world
18:09 — The Yug River, Sukhona, and the great trading past of Ustyug (Cartoon)
19:24 — Italian sketches in wood and the secrets of northern niello (Cartoon)
20:31 — Elk soup: a harsh and filling lunch Vologda construction site
21:18 — Smart Laika Nayda: How a hunting dog helps her owner in the wilderness
21:56 — Went hunting and bought a house: The story of shift worker Denis's solitude
23:24 — Working on a Finnish harvester: How logging operators make money
23:49 — A bear at the apiary: How the wild taiga comes to visit residents
24:16 — A vision of Moscow: Why the Urals and Siberia are closer than the capital
26:09 — "I can't cross-stitch": Why Valentina prefers an axe and chainsaw
27:29 — Proving with action, not words: A woman's tough character on a construction site
28:42 — Be strong to be independent from difficult circumstances
29:51 — On spiritual choice: "I'll get married when the Orlov Church is restored"
31:05 — Preservation Roofs: How Locals Save an Old Church on Their Own
32:41 — The Town of Orlets and the Fire Cloud: The Ancient History of the Lands Beyond the River (Cartoon)
33:13 — The Protected Sovereign Grove of Peter the Great and a Fleet for Arkhangelsk (Cartoon)
33:39 — Totem Baroque and the Archive of Priest Nikolai Preobrazhensky (Cartoon)
34:08 — Varlam Shalamov's Father in America: The Unexpected Secrets of an Old Photo Album (Cartoon)
35:11 — Returning to Roots: Why Children and Grandchildren of Emigrants Build Summer Houses
36:44 — The Genetics of Carriers: Why Valentina Isn't Afraid of the Harsh Northern River
37:35 — Friends from Murmansk and Kaliningrad: Strong Ties Through Generations
38:43 — "You Can Make Money in Moscow, but I Will Never Live Ther...