The shoe factory is undergoing production reform. Poor quality shoes no longer bring savings, the company began to suffer only losses. To get out of this crisis, the factory management decided to produce normal products designed for the wishes of the consumer. To do this, you must cope with new technologies.

In the town of Bryakhimov, noble but poor widow Harita Ignatyevna Ogudalova seeks to arrange marriages for her three daughters. She maintains an “open house”, hoping to attract gentlemen well-off enough to marry a dowry-less girl for love.

Platon Ryabinin, a pianist, is traveling by train to a distant town of Griboedov to visit his father. He gets off to have lunch during a twenty minute stop at Zastupinsk railway station. He meets Vera, a waitress, after he refuses to pay her for the disgusting food he doesn't even touch and misses his train due to police investigation of the incident. His passport is then accidentally taken away from him by Andrei, Vera's fiancé, and his money is stolen as he waits for the next train to Griboedov. Vera learns that Platon is about to get sentenced and sent to prison in the Far East for a car accident he isn't guilty for. During the few days that Platon has to spend in Zastupinsk he and Vera develop feelings for each other...

A film based on the story of the same name by Grigory Gorin. An employee of a certain SRI Potapov is a liar and an opportunist. But he does not even know that he is committing low things.