Director Vladimir Tarasov explores the theme of universal communication through music when a painter experiences first contact with a shapeshifting alien. In an attempt to tackle the question of how communication between two sentient species might occur, Tarasov proposes an answer: through music. The painter and the alien end up humming a melody together and walking off as friends. Contact was the first time Soviet viewers encountered Nino Rota’s song known to English speaking audiences from The Godfather.