An ordinary working class boy, like all his peers, he played football day and night and dreamed of being a striker. But no matter which team he played for - in the yard, at the factory, or in the army - he was inevitably put in goal.

A story about the fate of several generations of an old Moscow family. The life of these people, full of drama, fatally intersects with the historical fate of Russia. The plot focuses on the love of a young officer and a girl against the background of Stalinist socialism.