While the scientists conduct their research and experiments, the Institute's facilities team live their own lives - it's a separate world, in a separate space, with its own relationships and rituals. Sasha, a young janitor, notices a certain softness and kindness in an older janitor, Valera, and they steal away together to drink to their "male love". In a small, secluded room, away from their colleagues, the two men waver between resisting and giving in to their feelings and desires, walking a tightrope between violent tendencies and a need for tenderness.