For many years the great Emir of Bukhara has not known happiness - he has lost the taste to delightful khalva, and now life is as sour as a lemon for him. The house of poor pot-maker Shir-Mamed, however, is full of happiness - his little son Hodzha Nasreddin has been born. Rumours have spread about his unusual abilities - maybe he will be able to make the Emir happy again?

An old tea-house attendant told a VGIK student about how in the winter of forty-one, when the fascists were approaching Moscow, he was among those who were assigned to guard the train with apples, which the collective farmers of Uzbekistan sent to the front. The old man's story was so touching and entertaining that Anwar doubted the authenticity of the story. The teahouse did not convince the guy and said goodbye to the student. Later, while picking up material from the military chronicle for his film, Anwar saw on the screen the familiar face of a teahouse and fighters guarding frozen apples. Remembering an unsaid episode of the war, the student went to meet his hero...