There is a big intravenous drug problem, spreading HIV, and girls turn to prostitution to fund their dependence - spreading the infection further. In Odessa, Elena is a former musician who was driven by drugs and prostitution to be an outsider. Her only daughter has been taken away from her and she has lost the support of the family that she was once close to. Sergey started injecting after his father was murdered. Now he is off drugs, but is HIV-positive.
Unofficial figures suggest that a third of all young people in Odessa are taking drugs.
For the short time that is left to him, Sergey is working for an organisation of ex drug-addicts which tries to get other users to kick the habit by handing out information and clean syringes. He blames the ostrich-like attitude of the authorities in the past. They used to say we can't have AIDS here - that this disease can only take place in the West. They used to say that we didn't have drugs or prostitution here, but now in Odessa we have an epidemic and it happened very fast because no one wanted to talk about it. They closed their eyes to it.