In a parallel version of Ancient Russia called Belogorie, some soldiers are chasing the famous
warrior Alyosha through the woods. Alyosha dodges their arrows and cuts down a tree to block their
way, however he’s suddenly tackled off his horse by an owl. Now he has to fight all the soldiers
hand to hand, but even when they attack all together, Alyosha manages to defeat them in
seconds and even catches an arrow with his bare hand, which throws back at the archer. At that
moment the owl returns and transforms into the sorceress Varvara, who uses a magic whip
to hit Alyosha's sword and make it soft. A soldier arrives with Alyosha's horse, only for the animal
to transform into the white wizard Svetozar and the residual powder magic causes Alyosha to keep
sneezing. Irritated, Varvara turns him into stone, and the knights throw him into the sea with all
the other cursed warriors. Announcing that the last knight is gone, Varvara is about to attack
Svetozar too, so he runs away and jumps into the ocean, where he swims away by transforming into
a fish. Meanwhile in modern Moscow, a con artist named Ivan joins a psychic contest. He pretends
to wield the power of the Sun God, but actually he got information from a staff member, so after
lots of theatrics he wins the contest by cheating. After the show is over, an old lady approaches him
with an ominous message: she sees him traveling to another world, burning a running hut, and meeting
his doom. But Ivan doesn’t take her seriously. The next day, Ivan meets with a client and performs a
rite to cleanse her aura, once again using lots of theatrics and talking nonsense to get her money.
He goes as far as telling her that her husband is cheating on her, which is a lie. Afterward,
he receives a call from a woman that takes him to the hospital, where she asks him to wake up her
comatose nephew. However Ivan can’t bring himself to lie in such a serious situation and leaves.
On his way out, he remembers an incident from his childhood. Ivan grew up in an orphanage and
the kids often made fun of him for believing in Santa and magic. One night, the kids locked him up
inside a closet and nobody noticed he was missing, so the lights went out. Thankfully Ivan found a
needle in the closet and used it to loose the lock to escape. Then he used the same needle to sew a
bunch of blankets to the beds where the mean kids were sleeping. The next morning, they couldn’t get
out and everyone laughed at them. Since then, Ivan has kept the needle in a necklace. Sometime later,
Ivan is at the mall when he’s approached by the client’s husband, who is furious about the lie
and has brought two bodyguards. Ivan immediately runs away, pushing things to block the way before
hiding at the beauty salon. The bodyguards almost catch up to him, so Ivan runs into the locker
room to make it to the pool, where he goes down a water slide. However instead of landing in a pool,
he finds himself in Belogorie. Confused, Ivan looks inside the tree he came from and gets
startled by Svetozar, who starts following him around. Getting annoyed, Ivan grabs a stick to
hit him, but Svetozar transforms it into a full tree and even gives Ivan his very own tail. The
wizard explains he brought Ivan here because he’s the son of Murometz, a legendary warrior
from Russian myths. Long time ago, Ivan’s parents asked Svetozar to hide Ivan in another world,
but now he had to bring him back because he’s their only hope. At that moment they hear a noise,
so Svetozar gives Ivan his father’s ring before an arrow hits him and he disintegrates. Soon Ivan is
surrounded by a bunch of soldiers, so he mentions that he’s the son of Murometz, but it doesn't stop
the men from coming closer. Ivan tries to distract them with theatrics and then runs, only to hit his
head on a branch and get caught. Meanwhile in the castle, Prince Dobrynya is showing off his weapon
skills at a party when the knights come in with Ivan, explaining he’s Murometz’s son. Noticing
Ivan’s ring, Dobrynya believes him and welcomes him warmly. At that moment Varvara shows up,
revealing she’s married the prince. She points out that Ivan must be tired and pretends to take
him to a bedchamber, but actually she orders the guards to throw him in the dungeon and chain him
up. Ivan looks around and discovers that in the neighboring cell there there’s a frozen
man called Koschei, whose body has been cut up into multiple pieces. He knows who Ivan is and
assures him that all this is real, but Ivan remembers he pushed a guy out of the way when
he jumped into the pool and wonders if he's the real Murometz’s son. Koschei explains that the
only way for Ivan to go home is to find the magic sword, and proceeds to share a story. Long ago,
there was a powerful wizard with an eager apprentice. The wizard decided to become immortal,
so he had to put a magic crystal into the magic sword during a solar eclipse to achieve it.
However the apprentice got jealous and killed the wizard before claiming immortality for himself.
When his soul was put into the crystal, his death was also forged in it, and that day eternal
darkness fell upon this world. That apprentice turns out to be Koschei himself, who ruled the
kingdom for a thousand years until a group of warriors took the sword from him to defeat him
and separated the crystal from it to make it lose power. They also put a spell on the sword,
and Muromets hid it away. Eventually Dobrynya took the crystal and sent Koschei to the dungeon.
Koschei is the only one who knows where the sword is, and since warriors aren’t needed anymore,
Ivan will probably be executed in the morning. At that moment the knights bring another prisoner,
an old witch called Baba Yaga. The guard begins looking through Ivan’s stuff and is startled by
the phone, calling it a demon, but he also throws the cash into the fire. While he’s distracted,
Baba Yaga blows magic breath into her pocket to release a frog. This little guy transforms into
Vasilisa, who puts a sedative in the guard's drink to put him to sleep. Then she frees Baba Yaga and
together both women release Koschei, breaking all the ice so he can put his limbs back together.
Baba Yaga really turned herself in as part of her plan to free him. When the trio is about to leave,
Ivan convinces them to take him with them. On their way out, Ivan gets back all his things, but
he accidentally pushes the guard and causes the emergency bill to ring. A bunch of soldiers soon
show up, so Vasilisa and Koschei start fighting them. Vasilisa moves with great speed and skill
to knock them down, but Koschei doesn’t bother to move much because getting stabbed doesn’t kill
him. He even throws his arm at a guard to grab his face and then knocks him out with a bowl.
Vasilisa gets grabbed by the neck and Ivan thinks of helping, but Baba Yaga spits acid at the guy’s
face so when Ivan throws a bag, she hits Vasilisa instead. At least this allows her to finally
finish the man. Then the guard wakes up and goes after Ivan, who takes a picture of him with his
phone and tells him he’s got his soul. The guard freezes, so Ivan takes the chance to lock him up
in the cell, only for the guard to pull at his tail and take it off. The group successfully makes
it outside and escapes in Baba Yaga’s hut, which can run on chicken legs. The soldiers follow them
and shoot arrows at them, causing Ivan to almost fall but getting saved by Koschei. The soldiers
then try to block the bridge, but Baba Yaga just feeds more fire to the hut and they start going
faster until the hut jumps over the outer wall. The chase continues in the forest as Varvara joins
the soldiers by transforming into an owl, but Baba Yaga sees her and attacks her by sending a pot
through the chimney. Varvara falls and the knights rush to help her, so the group escapes safely. The
next morning, the house settles down in the middle of the forest, so Baba Yaga comes out floating in
a big bucket. She asks Ivan to get her cauldron from the hut, but when he uses his lighter for
better visibility, he accidentally starts a fire that only gets worse when he tries to stop it.
He quickly warns the others, so Baba Yaga and Vasilisa come to save everything they can before
the house runs away. This reminds Ivan of the prophecy the old lady told him in the city and he
wonders if he’ll really die here. A furious Baba Yaga assaults Ivan and threatens to eat him but
Koschei stops her, explaining he’s the only one who can find the Magic Sword. As they get ready to
leave, Vasilisa gives Ivan a potion to counter any curse Baba Yaga may put on him. However this is a
prank, and when he drinks it, Ivan starts talking with strong sound waves that scare the birds and
make Baba Yaga fall. Luckily she quickly cures him from it. Afterward the group starts heading to the
White Mountains, where the Magic Sword is hidden. During the trip, Ivan takes lots of fun selfies
together, but he also encounters weird flowers that try to capture him until Koschei cuts them
off. The group bonds and has a good time together, unaware that Varvara and her men are following
them. When they enter the forest, one of the soldiers steps onto a magical plant and moss takes
over his body until plants are growing out of it. Sometime later, the group stops at a swamp where
a merman lives because they need to ask for safe passage through the Death River. Vasilisa sits
near the swamp as bait, but when Vodyanoy shows interest in her, his friend lobster tells him
that she’s just a frog. Furious, Vodyanoy attacks Vasilisa, so Ivan and Koschei come to save her
and negotiate. However Baba Yaga knows it won’t work, so she eats a magical apple to make her
body appear to be younger. Vodyanoy falls for Baba Yaga’s flirting and accepts to guide the group,
but first they need to fill Yaga’s bucket with water for him. Shortly after the group leaves,
Varvara arrives at the swamp and uses her magic to get information from the lobster. Then she
shoots a magic arrow toward the palace, where it hits a guard and allows Varvara to possess him to
give Dobrynya an update. Back to the group, they use Koschei’s arm as a hook to climb a hill and
after lots of walking, they enter a cave where a giant lives. They sneak around quietly, but
suddenly Ivan's alarm rings, alerting the giant of their presence. Korschei tries to negotiate,
but the giant pushes him away and starts attacking the group. Everyone runs to hide, but Vodyanoy’s
bucket falls and now he’s lost his water, so they must help him quickly. Ivan watches the enemy and
realizes that the giant is female, which gives him an idea. He puts down his phone with music
playing, then he starts dancing and flirting with the giant, who is very flattered and dances along.
The rest of the group uses the chance to escape, and Ivan finishes the dance by gifting the giant
flowers before joining the others. Moments later, they finally reach the Death River, which is full
of piranhas. Vodyanoy dives in to try to assert his dominance, only to emerge with the piranhas
biting him. Since he’s been gone for years, the river doesn’t listen to him anymore. An argument
ensues over how they’re going to proceed and things are so tense they almost get violent, but
Ivan calms them down. Vasilisa has lost all hope and leaves, so Koschei explains to Ivan her issue.
Some time ago, Varvara and Dobrynya were passing through Vasilisa's village, and when Dobrynya
took interest in her, Varvara got so jealous that she cursed Vasilisa and her family into
becoming frogs. She can only take human form now thanks to Baba Yaga, but they’ll need the sword
to save her family. Ivan goes after Vasilisa and hands her a cute little rabbit to make her smile,
however Vasilisa notices the bunny's eyes glowing blue and quickly tosses it away. When she’s about
to kill it, the rabbit transforms into Varvara and tries to attack them with a magic sword. The
duo dodges just in time and runs back to alert the others, but soon the soldiers surround them,
so the group jumps into a well to escape. Baba Yaga starts a fire before jumping too, blocking
the entrance behind her. In the water, Yaga loses the transformation and Vodyanoy feels betrayed.
However the soldiers are trying to break the entrance to catch them, so Vodyanoy agrees to keep
on helping them. There’s a tunnel in the bottom of the well that they can use, so Vodyanoy drinks all
the water until the humans land on the floor. Then the group pushes away a rock to escape through the
tunnel, but Vodyanoy stays behind to block the hole. At that moment Varvara gets into the well
too and after Vodyanoy spits water at her, she transforms him into stone. This causes all the
water to leave his body and shoot Varvara out of the well. Moments later, the group comes out of
the tunnel and takes a path through the mountains. When Baba Yaga sneezes, she causes a rock to fall,
so Ivan jumps on Koschei to push him out of the way just in time. Koschei thinks this is silly
because he’s immortal, but a second rock falls and crushes him, so now they have to help him out. In
the evening, they stop to rest, and Ivan gifts Vasilisa his needle necklace. The next morning,
Ivan wakes up first and gets captured by Varvara, whose soldiers soon surround the group. Varvara
then uses her magic whip to throw Koschei around, but when she tries to hurt Vasilisa too,
she dodges it and accidentally falls off the cliff. The soldiers assume she died and leave with
their new prisoners, but actually Ivan’s necklace got stuck on a rock and now Vasilisa is holding
onto it in her frog form. Ivan hears her croak and guesses the truth. After lots of traveling,
Varvara takes the group to the White Mountains, where a bunch of weapons have been on the ground
since the old days of war. Varvara orders Ivan to find the magic sword, so he looks around and picks
one at random, only for the sword to break in his hand. He tries to run away, but Varvara corners
with hits of her whip. Terrified, Ivan picks up another random sword and to everyone’s shock,
this one is the real deal. He immediately destroys Varvara’s whip and sends her flying, accidentally
cutting a rock in the process. Then he forces the soldiers to surrender before freeing his
friends and giving the sword to Koschei. At that moment Dobrynya arrives and reveals that he’s been
working with Varvara all along. In fact the witch has the magic crystal, so Koschei exchanges the
sword for it to get his soul back, but the crystal turns out to be a fake. Suddenly Vasilisa comes
out of hiding and tackles Dobrynya, giving Ivan the chance to push the guards and grab the sword.
The enemy gets ready to fight and Vasilisa tells Ivan to help, but instead Ivan opens a portal with
the sword and returns to his own world. Furious, Vasilisa throws his necklace at him. In Moscow,
Ivan lands in a café but plays it cool. The rest of the day he can’t stop feeling guilty,
especially when he sees the pictures on his phone. He decides to return to the pool and tries going
down the same slide, but nothing happens and he ends up getting arrested. To his surprise,
Svetozar is also in the cell, apparently he escaped to this world after he got hit by
the arrow. Sadly he can’t do magic without his staff, so Ivan uses his mind tricks to convince
a cop that he’s cursed but that he can cure him with the staff. The officer gives them the staff,
which Svetozar uses to shoot the cop down and open a portal. Before Ivan leaves, the wizard gives
him magic dust to feed the dragon imprisoned in Dobrynya’s dungeon. Ivan jumps through the portal
successfully but sadly Svetozar gets captured by the incoming cops. In Belogorie, Ivan arrives at
the castle and sneaks into the dungeon, where he’s disappointed to see the dragon is very small. He
tries using the powder, but nothing happens. At that moment guards find him and take him away,
causing Ivan to drop the powder bag. Now the dragon can eat tons of it. Then Ivan is taken
to the throne room, where Dobrynya is waiting for the eclipse to do the immortality ritual. Suddenly
Ivan reveals he’s brought a gun and tries to shoot the crystal, but Varvara tackles him
and he shoots Dobrynya instead. Unfortunately the shot wasn’t fast enough to interrupt the
ritual and Dobrynya soon recovers because he’s now immortal. When Dobrynya gets ready to kill Ivan,
the dragon flies through the window, and after the prince kicks it, the little beast breathes fire on
his face. Next the dragon flies all over the room as he breathes impressive flames, so Ivan uses
the distraction to free Vasilisa and apologize. Vasilisa punches him for it, but also kisses him.
At that moment Dobrynya makes the dragon stop by blocking the fire with the sword, so Ivan starts
a new distraction by asking Dobrynya to duel him like a real man with normal swords. As the two of
them fight, Vasilisa tries to reach the magic sword, only to be attacked by Varbara and the
women start their own fight. Varvara uses the magic sword to defend herself, and the crystal
falls out of it. As both pairs fight with all their might, the dragon frees Koschei as well.
Fighting Ivan reminds Dobrynya of how jealous he had been of his father, which is why he teamed
up with Varvara to take over the kingdom. Ivan doesn’t have any training and is soon overpowered,
so Dobrynya destroys his needle necklace. Suddenly Koschei picks up the crystal, but before he can
destroy it, Varvara throws an ax to cut his arm off. Ivan distracts Dobrynya by stabbing his foot
with the needle, then Koschei controls his arm to make it throw the crystal, which he destroys with
the magic sword. Since their souls are in it, this act kills both Dobrynya and Koschei. Defeated,
Varvara flies off the window to escape while the statue in the middle of the room turns back to
being human, revealing Ivan’s father. Afterward, there’s a banquet to celebrate their victory,
during which Baba Yaga takes on her youth appearance again to thank Vodyanoy for
his help. When Ivan sees a kid server, he asks his father for a favor. Moments later,
Ivan appears at the hospital in Moscow and heals the comatose child with a potion from Baba Yaga.
However he doesn’t stay, instead he returns to Belogorie, where he and Vasilisa ride the walking
hut to go meet her parents and start a new life. In the sea, all the statues go back to normal too
and walk out to return home. Meanwhile Varvara appears in Moscow and reveals she’s the daughter
of Ivan’s housekeeper. Now that their main plan has failed, they’ll have to make a new one.