Based on a famous short story by Pushkin, this film tells of a youthful, innocent and pure love story that begins as a girlish joke. Liza is eager to get to know her young neighbor but cannot do so as their fathers are not on speaking terms. Her response is simple and direct. With the help of her loyal servant Nastya, she dresses up as a peasant girl and goes pick mushrooms in the nearby woods....

The films hero is a metal worker named Ignat who is as strong and tough as the steel that his sprawling factory produces in the Ural Mountains. Its a great cheerless environment; life is arduous and dangerous; conditions at the plant are nearly subhuman. The only excitement in the grimy industrial town is provided by robbing a train at gunpoint or stealing sheep from the Bashkiri tribe. The most renowned diversion, however, is the annual fist fight between the strongest metal worker and the strongest miner from the region. Against his better judgment, but with the support of his co-workers, Ignat decides to take part in this perilous venture.

The hero of social drama, a young prosecutor, is engaged in repressed cases in the mid-50s. Behind each of the fabricated charges is a human tragedy; together they form a monstrous picture of lawlessness triumphing in the country. However, there are other laws - the laws of conscience, which no power can not cancel and destroy ...

Having his life come to a dead end, Vladimir is thinking about suicide. He is saved by a girl and spends the night at her home. The next morning, Vladimir wants to leave, but finds himself trapped by the house: the staircase seems to have no end, again and again it brings him to the same floor.