Taylak is a kind teacher of geography. People call him "Angel in a tubeteika, a traditional Central Asian skull cap," for his kind caring personality and also because he never parts with his traditional skull cap. One day his mother comes to Almaty to visit him. She decides that it's time her son got married and she starts to look for a bride for Taylak.

The story of a boy whose childhood fell on the difficult war and post-war years. The film will tell about the formation of personality, character, attitude of the child, about the first disappointments, about the birth and realization of his dreams.

The first years of Soviet power. The rich Aktanbai decides to steal his flocks abroad. However, only the shepherd Malbagar knows the secret paths in the mountains. Therefore, Aktanbai, giving the orphan girl Nurzhamal to Malbagar as a wife, demands to indicate the way through the mountains for this. On the way to the border, Malbagar, heeding the requests of Nurzhamal, who did not want to be his wife, helps the girl escape from the camp of Aktanbai. Years pass. Nurzhamal, after graduating from medical school, returns to his native village...