A film about the composer Sergei Prokofiev. Outwardly, the happy fate of the actor in the film seems deeply tragic in essence. By means of fiction and documentary films, the author of the film tries to penetrate into the inner world of the artist, to show the contradiction and tragedy of the creative and human personality. The style of the picture is original, the pictorial range is exquisite.

The life and work of the great Russian composer Dmitriy Shostakovich is presented in this documentary through rare images and audios from many archives, at one time censored by the Soviet government. A brief take on his life, from his transition as an early prodigy to a first rate artist, his celebrated compositions and the final years with a declining health.

Documentary made for the 60th anniversary of Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.