Set in a small village in the Republic of Belarus, which was contaminated by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Alexei and the Spring portrays the commitment of a tiny community of elderly people, and one young man, who remained to care for what the villagers revere as a sacred spring. This crystal-clear stream escaped contamination and continues to support the life of the villagers, who use it for drinking water, for laundry, and as a site for religious rites. Japanese nonfiction filmmaker Motohashi Seiichi, who has made a previous work about Chernobyl, here finds a surprising lesson in the power of faith amidst an ecological disaster.