World-renowned writer Chingiz Aitmatov is putting the finishing touches on his novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years. During a trip to Europe, he is offered creative freedom and global acclaim—at the price of renouncing his homeland. The journey becomes a profound re-examination of his own life: memories of his father’s tragic fate, his childhood, his family, and his past lead Aitmatov to a pivotal choice. Realizing that a person without memory becomes a mankurt—a mindless slave—he rejects the temptation to emigrate and writes a book that will become a symbol of national memory and human dignity.