As Soviet Russia enters the era of the New Economic Policy, Semyon Podsekalnikov decides to stop looking for a job. However, the prospect of living at the expense of his wife and mother-in-law seems unbearable. Having reached the end of his tether, Semyon is resolved to take his own life. Based on Nikolai Erdman's controversial play.

Two young boys are trying to prevent a massive antiquities theft.

A young aristocrat, Aleksei Fedyashev, is languishing in his family's country estate, spending his days reading poetry and confessing his love... to a statue. Upon hearing that famous Count Cagliostro is touring Russia and has created quite a buzz in high society with his "magic", he decides to ask the Count to bring the statue to life...

After a demobilization Vladimir starts working in a little porcelain shop as a repairer - but soon gets involved in criminal activity - so he desperately needs help from army friends.

The young scientist has everything - an apartment, a car, a position in the scientific community, but his soul is as if immersed in hibernation. And only the death of his mother and a meeting with his matured daughter, who had her first and unrequited love, awaken his soul, which has fallen into lethargy.

A young girl visits her family in a village and mistakenly identified by local children as a swimming champion.

Aspiring photographer is courting a relative of a man who holds a high official position for careerist reasons. In the name of that, he breaks up with his bride, but his plans weren't destined to come true.

A young man Sergey is trying to find a truth about the abandoned tomb of the soldiers suddenly discovered during the building of a highway.

Tanya Morozova, an illiterate but industrious textile factory worker, finds happiness through her education and the Stakhanovite movement. She becomes a shock labourer and ascends through the Party ranks, ultimately being elected as a member of the Supreme Soviet.