A young woman's carefree life in Leningrad is abruptly ended when she is assigned to teach in Altai, a town that hasn't progressed far beyond the Middle Ages. Her feelings of revulsion and longing are beautifully visualized in striking images of the wilds of Altai and “civilized” Leningrad.
Planned and photographed as a silent film, the sound track was added after the film was completed. “This track includes a few words of dialogue but depends largely on Shostakovich's exemplary music score. This is the best film score he ever wrote and incorporates not only certain musical themes used for dramatic effect but also natural sounds (such) as a typewriter, telegraph and a radio” (Georges Sadoul). Alone received only a limited release outside of the Soviet Union, and while it is considered, together with Road to Life, the most important early Soviet sound film, it is only rarely seen today.