Lyubov_v_bolshom_gorode

The story 'Love in the Big City' continues as Igor, the Russian-American dentist, invites her friends--Artyom, Russian architect-cum-student-cum-tour-bus-guide, and Sauna, Finnish fitness-club management trainee--to his father's ranch. With them are Artyom's recently-reconciled wife Katya; Alisa, the Russian-American fitness instructor whose heart Sauna has won; and Nastya, the Russian-American sex therapist who has agreed to marry Igor. In addition to being a fun vacation for all, Igor wants the trip to give Nastya a chance to meet her future father-in-law. On the plane they strike up a conversation with a couple of Americans who tell them about a monastery near the ranch where there is a statue which, as legend says, has the power to cure barrenness. After arriving at the ranch, they decide out of curiosity to visit the monastery; while there, despite a monk's warning, they all touch the statue. According to the statue's legend, each will sire a child the next time they have sex. They are unsure whether to believe this legend, but having experienced St. Valentine's considerable powers, they decide to refrain from sex for the time being, just in case. All three men agree that they are simply not ready for fatherhood. The women, at first hurt and confused, become angry and leave when they discover the real reason for the men's odd excuses and machinations to avoid sex. With their women gone, the men decide to have a good time and party hearty to the max. At this point St. Valentine once again enters their lives. He is appalled that they cannot understand that children are a blessing and that fatherhood is an honor. He decides that they need another lesson and levels a new curse on them: the first one to have sex will indeed sire a child, exactly as the statue's legend foretells: the catch is that when it happens, the other two will then both be doomed to remain childless for the next 20 years. Confronted with the prospect of childlessness, and forced into a zero-sum game from which only one can emerge a father, the three rush headlong into a comedic, and quite Machiavellian, race against one another. St. Valentine, of course, has some twists and turns in store for them, and in the end all three will learn the true value of fatherhood.