"Makarov" both a popular Russian name, and also slang for the word "gun," serves as a metaphor for the brutal reality of life in a post-totalitarian society. The story's protagonist, Makarov, embodies this struggle as he becomes more mechanical and less spiritual upon acquiring a gun.

A Russian soldier who spent ten years in captivity in Afghanistan, returns to his home village and shocks all its inhabitants because of his conversion to Islam. During his absence, his father hanged himself, his brother served a prison term and his former fiancée has become a woman of very low morals. The village is the scene of endless drinking while the local boss is selling off the land for dollars to new-rich Russians. Our hero turns out as the only sober and hard-working member of the community. However, his attachment to his new faith soon provokes the hatred and rejection of everyone else, including his own family.