Kaucminde Manor – a monument, a source of national pride, and a symbol of enterprise and home economics – is crumbling, fading, and meeting its end, even though "all the paperwork is in order". Meanwhile, the Skaistkalne Monastery and its restorer, the controversial priest Andrejs Mediņš, are ready to open the new "Kaucminde in Šenberga" in just two years' time – complete with a cultural layer of tradition and spirituality, representing yet another site restored from ruin. The new year has arrived in both places, but which one holds the future?

And therein lies the root of the problem – for the state today, having the paperwork correctly filed is more important than the actual result.