Ruslana and her brothers Vasya and Chippolino live under a bridge near the railway station. "When mother was alive, everything was alright. But when she died, dad started drinking and beating us up so we ran away", explains Chippolino. Other street kids showed him how to sniff glue and he taught his siblings. Now, they are all addicted. "I am a fool. I can't make sense of anything in my life because I'm sniffing glue all the time", confesses their friend, Vitalik.

Tanya, an 18 year old prostitute and mother of two, lives in constant fear of losing her babies. With winter approaching, she and her husband Ruslan are desperate to move off the streets and find a proper place to live. "In order not to freeze, we have to do something", she worries. But - at a time when they're desperate for money - Ruslan also wants Tanya to stop hooking. "Most of my friends know that she's working as a prostitute so how can I look them in the eye? I'm boiling inside."

Fortunately, Vitalik invites them to move into his flat with Ruslana, Vasya, Chippolino and 17 other street kids. "I felt sorry for them. You know how difficult it is living under a bridge", he explains. But the couple are forced out by the chronic drug abuse of all their flat mates. "We begged them not to sniff glue near the children because I was worried it would damage their lungs", states Tanya. "Then, one girl said to us 'if you don't want your children to be around this, pack up and leave.'"

Gradually, the pressure becomes too much for Ruslan. "Why do I drink Vodka? I simply can't look at this life we are living sober", he confides. "We're on the street with the kids. She's working as a prostitute. I'm a thief." Still haunted by the death of his best friend and his actions during the Bosnian war, he starts drinking more and more. "I want to take a knife and stick it into my throat but I have to feed the kids. If it weren't for them, I would have done it a long time ago."

Then one day, Ruslan snaps. "All of a sudden, he turned around and slapped me. I fell and dropped the baby who hit his head on the concrete", confides Tanya. "Then he threw our other son at me and he hit his head as well. The taxi drivers were shouting, 'call the police, call the police, he's attacking the kids."

In Vitalik's flat, tensions are rising as well. After a family argument, Vitalik arranges to have his uncle beaten up by Vasya. But Vasya goes too far. "God forbid, I could have killed him. I'm feeling really ashamed to have beaten him up so badly", he admits. Then news comes in that Vitalik's uncle has died of his injuries. "I can't imagine how Vitalik will live through all this. His uncle was taking care of his sick mother. I don't know what he'll do now", confides Vasya. A few weeks later, Vitalik tries to kill himself.

But despite all this, there's a sense that things will improve. "The kids from around here ... we can pull ourselves out somehow," states Vitalik. Life on the streets may be difficult and dangerous but it also offers these young people a freedom that is hugely seductive.