In the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, people came out to mark an important national holiday. Side by side — old and new symbols, the presence or absence of understanding between people who, though living on neighboring streets, are drifting further and further apart. May 9, Victory Day. Debates, a struggle between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Soviet sentiments, between red poppies and St. George ribbons… Once a flagship of Russian imperial and later Soviet shipbuilding, a city that was entirely pro-Russian during the USSR, Mykolaiv has suddenly revealed its Ukrainian identity. Swinging from one extreme to another, it seeks its place on the modern map of Ukraine. For some, the war is a myth and part of history; for others, it is a new reality. “A Day Off” is a portrait of the city and the people who live in it. It is a film about the search for identity in the face of a new reality. Can one continue to live with one foot stuck in the Soviet past while stepping into Europe with the other?